Hikari Menagerie
by smutdouble
Summary: Yami Marik wins the duel with the pharaoh. He decides the three hikaris are more fun alive than dead.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This is a stream of conscious fic with no real plan or ending, but I think it's okay and I wanted to share.**

 **I wasn't sure what to call Yami Marik. Yami Marik is a clunky name, and Kek and Mariku both sound too cute for this fic. I wanted him to be really evil. The Malik/Marik distinction is confusing because I see people use them interchangeably and I'm not sure what the standard is. I went with Melvin because that version is the closest to the characterization I'm going for, anyway.**

 **This fic has torture and non-con and stuff in it, so... I wouldn't recommend reading it if that stuff bothers you...**

Melvin cackled as Yugi collapsed to his knees. He could hear his friends screaming something, but he was too overcome by the agony of having the pharaoh's soul ripped out of him to understand the words. An inky blackness flowed from beneath Melvin's feet, flooding the dueling platform and crawling up Yugi's arms and legs. Lost. Yami had lost. The cold shadows crawled up his face, and then all the boy knew was darkness.

He awoke in a pile of pillows. The first things he noticed were the golden bars. He pushed himself into a kneeling position and frantically took in his surroundings. The room was made of black, white, and purple marble, decorated with gold furnishings and plush couches, all surrounded with wispy curtains. In the middle of the room water burbled from the top of a marble tetrahedron, flowing down the sides to fill a large, triangular basin. His cage dangled about four feet above the floor at one end of the room. To his left were two more cages.

Ryou Bakura sat in the one closest to Yugi. Wide, brown eyes met purple ones. The other teen seemed naked save for the white cloth wrapped around his waist. Gold cuffs with gold D-rings glittered on his wrists, ankles, and neck. After the initial shock of the surroundings faded, Yugi realized he wore similar attire.

At the far end of the line, Marik had risen to his feet. Yugi looked stunned, Ryou looked confused, but Marik looked pissed. He paced the small circumferrance of his cell, stopped to rattle the door, and paced some more. His lips moved like he was muttering to himself, but Yugi couldn't make out the words.

"Where are we?" Ryou asked.

"You lost, didn't you?" Marik demanded, looking at Yugi.

"Lost? Lost what?" Ryou looked at Yugi, too.

"I..." It was too much to take in all at once. The emptiness in his head. The strangeness of his surroundings. The pressure of his companions' eyes. He shook his head in disbelief. "I don't know what happened. I..."

The gold doors at the other end of the room opened. A tall figure glittered in the light of the sconces. Purple silk streamed from his shoulders. Black silk streamed from his waist. His eyes and grin were wide with delight. "Hello, hikaris," Melvin beamed. "Sorry to keep you waiting. You understand I had a lot of business to attend to." Bejeweled fingers cupped the head of the Millenium Rod as he walked closer. "You must have so many questions. Where are we? Is this really happening? Is he going to kill us?" Melvin laughed. "My castle, yes, and no. So what am I going to do with you? I'm glad you asked. You see-"

"Do you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?" Marik growled.

Melvin's grin slowly dipped into a pout as he narrowed his eyes at Marik. "I get tired of hearing you talk."

"I'm not scared of you," Marik spat.

The Rod glowed. Marik clutched at his collar, twitching as his knees buckled. His face tightened with agony as he rolled onto his side, and then his back. Sweat beaded on his skin. Melvin strolled casually up to the bars and reached through to tangle his fingers in the platinum hair. The Rod returned to its inert state as Melvin glared down at his hikari. "I'm going to continue. I suggest you listen." He gave the fistful of hair an extra tug, and then looked up at the other two teenagers. He smiled as he met their wide eyes. Keeping Marik's head pinned to the floor of the cage, he said, "So, the reason why you're here. I found it somewhat perturbing that my treacherous little thing," another tug at Marik's hair, "thought he could let the thief banish me to the shadows and run off with him. Ever since I beat him in that duel, I'd fantasized about... recompense..." Here he shot a particularly nasty grin at Ryou.

Ryou squirmed, but he couldn't bring himself to look away.

"Then I remembered." Melvin's gaze tracked to Yugi. "I'm the king of the world. I can have all of the little things. My own collection of throphy slaves to do with as I please. What's the point in being king if I can't have all the pretty little toys I want?"

"Creeper," Marik hissed through gritted teeth.

Melvin simply smiled at him this time. An empty smile to match his empty eyes. "Now we get to the cages. While I could easily puppet your bodies with the Millenium Rod, that wouldn't be nearly as fun as methodically breaking each of you one by one."

Yugi shot a frantic glance at Ryou. He couldn't let this happen. But what could he do? Without Yami... and with Melvin wielding the collective power of the Items...

Melvin walked down the row of cages, dragging the Rod across the bars as he went. "Where to start, where to start..." He stopped in front of Yugi. "Do I revel in my defeat of the old pharaoh?" He returned to Ryou's cage. "Do I take my compensation for the trouble the thief caused me?" He moved on and stopped at Marik. "Or do I finally put this obnoxious tart in his place? It might be a good bit of foreplay to make you watch the first two. Let you stew in your culpability for a while."

Marik was starting to look scared.

The madman stepped back and pointed the Rod at each cage as he spoke, starting with Yugi. "Eenie, meeni, miny, mo, which hikari gets to..." He paused, pointing and staring at Ryou.

Yugi bit his lip, waiting for Melvin to end on him, but the silence thickened. He didn't like the way Melvin was staring at his friend. Yugi gulped. "It's me, right? I'm the last in the sequence..."

Melvin cocked his head back and slowly turned it to look at Yugi. "Are you volunteering?"

Fear weighed heavily in his gut. He couldn't save his friends, but he could delay their pain. It was the least he could do. The most he could do. All he could do. Yugi forced himself to nod.

The madman lowered his arm and shrugged. "I guess that decides it then." The rod glowed, and then the door on Ryou's cage popped open.

"Wait!" Yugi cried out. "Take me instead! Please!"

Melvin reached inside and dragged Ryou out onto the floor. "You'll get your turn, little thing. Don't you worry."

"Melvin!" Marik growled.

"Ryou!" Yugi cried.

"It's okay," Ryou called back to them as Melvin latched an arm around his middle and dragged him to a gilded table with gilded chains.

"Is it?" Melvin grinned.

Ryou averted his eyes. "I spent years with the Ring spirit. I've learned how to pick my battles."

The Rod nudged Ryou's chin up, forcing eye contact. "What sorts of battles did you surrender to the thief, little thing?"

Ryou released a shaky sigh. He was scared. He didn't like the hunger in Melvin's eyes one bit. "Nothing as bad as what you're about to do, I'm sure." The words were sincere. The Ring spirit had never done anything too awful to him physically. Conversely, Melvin had no stake but pleasure in keeping Ryou alive, and if it pleased the madman more to kill or maim him, well... But it had become second nature to surrender in the face of dominance.

The grin widened. "Are you hoping I'll be gentle if you cooperate?"

Ryou swallowed, his throat rippling against the warm metal band. "Hoping... not expecting..."

Melvin cackled. "I knew I'd like you." He lowered the Item, holding Ryou with his gaze. "Take off your clothes."

Maintaining eye contact, Ryou fumbled with the folds of the cloth until it fell in a puddle around his feet. He heard Marik saying something, but he resisted the urge to look. While Ryou didn't expect Melvin to be gentle, at least maybe he could avoid being beaten into submission on top of being beaten for pleasure.

Melvin's eyelids drooped as he smirked. He made a small circular motion with the Rod. "Turn around."

Once more Ryou obeyed, happy that he didn't have to look at him, at least. A shockingly warm hand pushed between his shoulder blades. Ryou bent over until his elbows rested on the table. Shocking cold replaced the warmth as the Rod's handle stroked his back from his shoulders to his rear.

"I always thought you had the prettiest skin, little thing," Melvin said. "Any bruise, any welt, any gash... They would be so beautiful, so vibrant..."

The Rod lifted, and then cracked down hard across Ryou's butt. The albino teen screamed in spite of himself.

"Ryou!" Yugi yelped, half hidden behind his hands.

Marik tried to squeeze between the bars, but it was an idea born of pure desperation. Obviously escape wouldn't be that simple.

Melvin chuckled. He struck Ryou again. The skin was already pink. A few more whacks and it started to purple. Several more, and the protests from the cages had trailed off into hopeless, horrified silence. At first, the pale shoulders hitched with each blow, but now they shook uncontrollably.

Melvin finally stopped to slide a hand under Ryou's wet cheek. "Look at me."

Ryou peaked over his shoulder. He watched Melvin unsheath the Rod and felt him press the sharpened tip between his shoulders. It dug in and dragged down, following the length of his spine. The pale back arched instinctively away as Ryou cringed and tucked his chin against his chest. When the blade finally lifted, he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

"Perhaps I wasn't clear." The blade repositioned near the top of the first cut. "I want to see your face."

White knuckles turned whiter as Ryou gripped the sides of the table. His head twisted as far as it could to the left while trying to keep his back presented. The tip of the rod punctured his flesh very slowly. Ryou closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, but he managed to keep his face where Melvin could see it. Melvin's fist tightened around the shaft, letting tension build, and then jerked sideways abruptly. Ryou cried out as fresh tears squeezed from the corners of his eyes. His heart pounded. His body sagged to the side until his right shoulder touched the table.

Melvin braced his hands on either side of the albino and leaned over him. "I really like you," he murmured, grinning and brushing white hair away from Ryou's face. "You might be," he reposition the blade, "my favorite." He slashed diagonally from Ryou's shoulder to Ryou's hip. Ryou choked out another cry.

"Stop it!" Yugi called desperately. "Please!"

The madman ignored him, entranced by the ruby pearls on the snowy flesh. The tip of a long, agile tongue chased the beads up their fine, red string. Ryou gasped and whimpered as Melvin stopped, bent over, with his bare torso mere fractions from contact with Ryou's.

"Roll over," he purred in a husky voice, "and grab your knees."

Ryou shuddered. This would be bad. This would be very bad. He'd known it had to be coming, what with the way Melvin had been eyeing him since he'd entered the room. He just hadn't expected it to happen so soon. Biting his lip, he dragged himself onto the table and turned over. Melvin loomed over him, body dark in the shadows of the cape that fell around both of them. The violet eyes captured and pinned Ryou, daring him to make the mistake of looking away.

Finally, Melvin smirked and straightened up. He removed his golden belt and his shendyt followed close behind.

Ryou hugged his knees to his chest, shivering. He didn't think he could do this.

The madman cocked his head. "Come on, now, pretty little pale thing, you know what I meant." He raised an eyebrow. "Or is this a battle you want to fight?"

The albino still hadn't managed to free himself from those terribly hollow eyes. He felt paralyzed. His brain simply couldn't process this. About to be raped by some inhuman thing. "I'm scared," he forced out in a tiny voice. Strong hands pried Ryou's arms from his legs, gripped the backs of his thighs, and forced them apart. Ryou squinted and turned his face away as much as he dared. He'd never been completely exposed to anyone like this. The vulnerability sucked. He just wanted to hide.

Melvin spat on the tight ring of muscle, but it was more for his own benefit than the captive hikari's. He slathered his cock with spit as well and lined up his first thrust. His gaze returned to the flushed pink face. Beaming with sadistic delight, he snapped his hips forward.

Ryou's eyes flew open wide, and then just as quickly squeezed shut as his body arched off the table. He screamed, louder than during the cutting, louder than during the caning.

Yugi covered his face and turned away, shuddering.

Marik continued staring, too stunned to move.

Muscular shoulders forced Ryou's knees to his shoulders as Melvin crawled onto the table with him. When the madman started fucking him, Ryou did finally grab the backs of his knees, if only to have something to squeeze. The experience was excruciating. Aside from the obvious, each thrust rocked his lacerated back against the table. The other man's hips slammed against his already bruised ass. Though he couldn't help the groaning, the gasping, the sobbing, or the yelping, Ryou endured it without uttering a single intelligible word. Begging, defiance... both were pointless.

Each squirm and whimper only encouraged Melvin to draw out more. He gripped the pale throat, digging sharp nails into the back of Ryou's neck, and pounded him harder. Faster. His eyes gleamed and his tongue curled between his teeth as he grinned down at the defenseless hikari. He leaned forward and licked one of the tear-crusted cheeks. The strangled whimper Ryou produced was enough to push Melvin over the edge.

When Ryou felt the invasive presence leave his body, he hugged his knees to his chest again. He didn't move much beyond that, because Melvin didn't seem done. He removed his cape. His jewelry. Stripped down until he was just as naked as Ryou. At least, almost as naked. There was a raw power in every line of the tanned body that shielded him from the vulnerability Ryou still felt. Catching the smaller figure around the waist once more, he pulled Ryou over to the fountain.

The warmth and depth of the water surprised Ryou. Even the shallowest bit was knee deep. At Melvin's silent direction, Ryou sank into the pool and took up a position straddling the madman's lap. He couldn't bring himself to meet the violet eyes, and he couldn't bear to look at the thing he'd just been violated with, so he settled for staring at Melvin's chest.

Melvin tilted his head, eyeing Ryou impassively. "You really are already half-crumpled, aren't you?"

"I guess," Ryou answered uncertainly. He'd never really thought of himself as broken, just... resigned.

Melvin laughed. "I was going to make you spend a few nights in the cage first, but I don't think I'd get much from it. You seem like you're used to cages."

Ryou bit his lip. He was torn on the subject. Yes, he was used to them, resigned to them, but that made him value any freedom he could get all the more. "What would you do with me instead?" He asked.

Melvin looked around the room and then chuckled at Ryou. "Do you really think I went through the trouble of making this whole room for a few cages? The cages are a punishment. The room is the prison."

With this information in mind, Ryou surveyed the room again. They had a place to bathe. Places to sleep. A toilet. The room was dramatically archaic, but it was liveable. His eyes landed on the doors Melvin had entered through. They were shut now, but when they'd been open he hadn't had a chance to see anything but darkness. "What's outs-"

"Death," Melvin interrupted sharply. Coldly. "Don't mistake my desire to keep you alive for kindness. If you open that door, you will die. If you touch that door, you will be punished, and it will be worse than a few playful swats on the rear."

 _Playful?!_ Ryou thought incredulously. He didn't think he'd be sitting properly for at least a week.

"But I'm sure you know better than to disobey me," Melvin smirked. "Don't you, my crumpled paper doll?"

"I won't touch it," Ryou conceded.

"Good." Melvin leaned back and propped his elbows on the edge of the pool. "Now wash my cock. I did just fuck a slave, after all."

The cold, bluntness startled Ryou, and Melvin responded with a sadistic grin.


	2. Chapter 2

Ryou hadn't left the pool. He'd folded his arms on the edge and hidden his face in them as soon as Melvin had finally left them alone, and he'd stayed that way for several minutes. Damp, white hair fanned out around him. An uncomfortable silence settled as the two caged hikaris watched him. Yugi didn't know what to do. If he'd been free, he would've hugged him until he was ready to talk, but Ryou hadn't shown any inclination to move. It occurred to him that Ryou in particular might have been used to suffering in silence. "Ryou...?" Yugi started softly.

The white head lifted. Brown eyes stared dully.

"I'm sorry," Yugi said.

Ryou pressed his lips together and shook his head as he shrugged. "There was nothing you could do." He took a deep breath and released a shaky sigh.

"I know, but..." Yugi didn't how to finish that sentence.

"Sometimes there's nothing anyone can do." Ryou swallowed hard. "It'll be okay... it has to be... If it's not okay, what else is there?"

"Ryou, you have to get us out of here," Marik cut in.

"Ryou shook his head. "I can't."

"Look around. Maybe there's something you can use to open the cages, or a weapon, or a way out," Marik insisted. "Check the door, at least! Is it even locked?"

"Ryou blinked at him. "I emcan't/em."

"Why? Because he told you not to?" Marik snorted. "Bakura would've at least tried!"

An alien anger darkened the soft, brown eyes. "The emRing spirit/em," Ryou emphasized, "was a three thousand-year-old half demon with a Millenium Item. I'm a bloody emhigh school student/em."

"Woah, woah, hey!" Yugi waved his hands in front of him. "We can't start fighting with each other. We're all we have right now."

Marik grabbed the bars of his cage and glared at Yugi. "He's going to do that to all of us! Worse, even! We have to do something!"

"Marik, please, calm down," Yugi whispered.

"Bakura _died_ trying to help me! I can't give up now! What would that mean for him?" Marik's voice cracked and he hid behind his bangs. "I want Bakura," he whimpered.

"I miss Yami," Yugi said softly. Yami would've been able to save Ryou. Yami would've had them all out of here by now. But the Puzzle spirit wasn't going to swoop in to play hero this time.

"What do you think is outside, Marik?" Ryou asked, his voice flat.

"How would I know?" Marik asked.

"You knew the plan. What would Melvin do?" Ryou asked.

"He wanted to punish everyone for everything. Plunge the world into darkness." Marik huffed. "Like I know what any of that means. He's too batshit to come up with anything coherent."

Darkness. "What if we're all in the Shadow Realm right now?" Ryou asked.

Marik and Yugi exchanged a startled glance. They hadn't thought of that. The last thing Yugi remembered was being consumed by shadows. "Even if we could get outside," Yugi started.

"How long would we last?" Ryou finished.

The three of them stared at the door.

Marik clenched his fists. He couldn't be trapped again. He emcouldn't./em But he also couldn't make Ryou try to fight that thing alone. Ryou was right. They were just a bunch of teenagers. It wouldn't be fair to expect Ryou to deal with his evil twin single-handedly. His eyes met Ryou's.

Ryou bit his lip and pushed his hair behind his ears. "I'll take a look around," he said quietly. He pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the water streaming off of him. After retrieving the only bit of cover he'd been allowed, he took his time to really explore his new surroundings. He'd already been introduced to the soaps and oils kept by the bath, so he went to investigate the toilet instead. It was a cube of black marble with a hole in the top. Ryou hazarded a glance inside, but it was too dark and too deep to see anything.

A much smaller water basin stuck out of the wall, fed by a little fountain pouring endlessly down another hole. Ryou passed his hand under the water and tasted a few drops from his fingers. It was clean. Considering that even the Ring spirit had easily managed to grasp modern technology by watching Ryou's actions and listening to Ryou's thoughts, the boy was faintly surprised that Melvin thought so... anciently. Things weren't entirely accurate either, though. The magic fountains, mostly, but the pillows were also out of place somehow. It was a place constructed on the emfantasy/em of what a harem of slaves would be like. Did that mean Ryou could assume they weren't in a real place? Melvin had called it his castle, but that could easily have been part of the fantasy.

He pictured the room as a box floating in the infinite void of the shadow realm and suddenly felt very tiny and very cold.

Giving the doors plenty of clearance, he moved to investigate the next corner. It, too, was partitioned off by shear purple and black curtains. He could see a vague outline of the interior, but the things he saw didn't make much sense until he peaked inside. Chains hanging from holes in the ceiling. A slab in the floor with a ring. A gold cabinet similar to the one near the bath, but made more ominous by the surroundings. Ryou took in all of this in a startled second and then closed the curtains quickly. He stood for a while, staring blankly at his hands gripping the fabric.

"Ryou?" Yugi called with that concerned lilt in his voice.

The albino looked back at his friends, feeling sick and afraid in a way he never had before. "There's nothing helpful," he said, his normally light voice thick and heavy. He managed to make it to the nearest couch before his shivering body forced him to sit down. Then he stretched out on his stomach because sitting, even in the surprisingly soft cushions, hurt. He wrapped his arms around his head and retreated inside himself again. This had to be okay. He needed it to be okay. There wasn't any choice. It's okay. It's okay, it's okay, it's okay... He repeated this mantra to himself as he smothered the sound of his crying.

Hours passed. Intermittently Yugi and Marik took turns trying to get Ryou's attention, but whatever he'd seen had evidently caused him to check out completely.

"I'm sorry we lost the duel," Yugi said.

"It's not the first time the pharaoh let me down. At least it will be the last," Marik muttered.

Dark purple eyes widened, and then flicked down. The shortest boy stopped trying to speak to either of them after that. The silence really hurt. All it did was remind him that Yami was gone and he was alone. Eventually in spite of the fear in his heart and the emptiness in his head and belly, he slipped into something resembling sleep.

###

"Rise and shine, little birds!"

The mad voice as much as the slamming door startled Yugi awake. He tried to sit up and his back protested being hunched against the bars all night. If he could still call it night. Maybe it was always night now.

"I hope my canaries are ready to sing for me," Melvin grinned as he crossed the room. He paused at the couch and looked down at Ryou. The pale hikari hadn't moved except to maybe bury his face deeper into the pillow. The end of the Rod swept the white hair to the side so that Ryou's back was completely exposed. One of the wings traced the cut down Ryou's spine. The albino shivered. Grinning now, Melvin brought the handle of the Rod down across the backs of the pale thighs. Ryou yelped and curled inward. Melvin laughed. "Good little bird."

Yugi frowned and wrinkled his forehead. It was the closest Yugi got to a glare.

Catching a glimpse of the expression, Melvin grinned. "You really don't like that, do you?" He hit Ryou again, but his eyes stayed on Yugi.

Yugi cringed as Ryou cried out. "Please leave him alone. I'll do anything," Yugi begged.

Melvin smirked and closed his eyes. A low chuckle rumbled in his chest as he sat on Ryou's back and crossed one leg over the other. An arm stretched out along the back of the couch. The other hand played idly in Ryou's hair. He fixed Yugi with his steely gaze. "You say that like compliance is a choice."

Yugi hugged himself, shaking, completely at a loss. Melvin was right. He had nothing to offer that the madman didn't prefer to take by force.

Fingers tangled in white locks and pulled Ryou's face off the pillow. The brown eyes were squeezed shut, but the pained hiss showed that Ryou was very much present and aware. Melvin eyed him dispassionately. "I wasn't here for him specifically, but it is funny that this bothers you so much." Melvin released Ryou's head and returned his attention to Yugi. "Such an em _pathetic_ little thing."

Yugi fidgeted uncertainly as the violet eyes burned into him. Then the cage opened.

"Crawl over here," Melvin said.

The short hikari dropped from the cage and sank to his knees. He crawled until he reached Melvin's feet, then sat back on his heels.

"Tell me," Melvin said as he unsheathed the hidden blade. "What would you do to stop me from hurting this little cream puff?"

"Anything," Yugi insisted, feeling sick.

The blade lightly traced Ryou's calf from ankle to knee. Not cutting. Just barely scraping a thin white line through the first layer of cells. "Go on. Convince me."

Heart pounding, Yugi glanced at Ryou. He had his arms wrapped over the back of his head. It sounded like he might have been frantically whispering something over and over, but it was hard to make out the words. Specifics. Something specific... "Hurt me instead," Yugi pleaded.

"How?" Melvin tilted his head.

"C-cut me, hit me, a-anything, please!"

Melvin pursed his lips. "Hm... I don't think so. This one has much prettier skin." This time he did cut Ryou's calf. Ryou cried out.

Desperation welled up in Yugi's throat and beaded in his eyes. "Please just tell me what you want. I don't understand what you want."

A golden eyebrow raised. "No? That's too bad." He drew a thin cut on the back of Ryou's other leg. "Well, feel free to sit there and think it over. I can entertain myself."

Yugi closed his eyes just before Ryou moaned in pain again. There probably was no answer. The sick psycho was probably perfectly happy torturing Ryou while Yugi groveled on... Deep purple eyes opened and flicked up to Melvin's lap. His happiness was almost plain as day. He got off on torturing Ryou, and if Yugi wanted him to stop... "I..." the short boy started.

"My face is up here, panda bear."

When Yugi looked up, Melvin looked positively delighted. "I'll..." Yugi took a breath, fumbling for an easy way to say it. "I'll g-go down on y-you..."

"Hm..." Melvin tilted his head side to side, making a big show of thinking it over. "No." He snickered and raised the knife over Ryou's leg.

Tears rolled from the corners of Yugi's eyes. "Please! Please let me go down on you!"

The hand holding the Rod lowered slowly as Melvin chuckled. "If you insist." He parted his knees and hooked a finger through the D-ring on Yugi's collar to pull him closer.

With shaking hands, Yugi pushed Melvin's garb up toward his waist. His mouth felt dry. A combination of nerves and lack of water. Melvin's erection rose from his lap like an adobe tower. An orb of precum glittered at the tip. Yugi made the mistake of locking gazes with the hollow, violet eyes. He shuddered, almost afraid that so much as daring to touch the madman would cause him pain somehow. Any moment he was focused on Yugi was a moment he wasn't focused on the others, however. Yugi turned that into his own mantra as he wet his lips and wrapped them around the head of Melvin's cock. The salty pearl broke across his tongue, making him thirstier.

Before he could do much else, hands gripped the spikes of hair on either side of his head and yanked him forward. His startled squeak turned into a gagging cough. He pushed against Melvin's pelvis with one hand, trying to get the cock out of his throat without success. The gagging only stopped when Melvin decided to pull him off.

The hands forced his head back and the tips of two fingers hooked over his bottom teeth to pull his jaw open. Yugi watched through tear blurred eyes as the mad face drew closer. Then he felt a glob of saliva that wasn't his roll down his tongue. He wrinkled his nose and tried to turn his face way, but the hand at the back of his skull gripped his hair tighter. Then the cock filled his mouth again, effectively muffling any words of discontent that might have escaped.

Clutching Yugi's head with both hands, Melvin let his head loll back. The half-lidded, violet eyes found Marik, crouched in the corner of his cage like a cornered animal. The bronze hikari stared at his evil twin, sitting on the bleeding body of the boy that looked so much like Bakura with the head of the boy that looked so much like the pharaoh moving in his lap. It was like looking at a cracked mirror. Most of the images were there, but they were in all the wrong places. Caged up, unable to act as his derranged doppelganger twisted his life into all the wrong shapes, Marik felt like a helpless child again.


	3. Chapter 3

At first Yugi was frightened for Ryou when Melvin dragged him off to the pool, but it was only to make Ryou wash him again. Ryou looked nervous and uncomfortable, but Melvin didn't seem to be physically harming him. After some hesitation Yugi stood up to look around as well. The short hikari didn't know how long this limited freedom would last, so he used the opportunity to find the bathroom. Mostly to wash the taste of cum out of his mouth. He never got the chance to see the area that had startled Ryou so badly, though. Melvin returned Yugi to his cage before he left.

As soon as they were alone, Ryou wordlessly cleaned his new cuts. Then he carefully cupped some water directly from the fountain fixture in his hands and brought it to Marik. Marik only took enough to wet his tongue before declining any more. He looked really uncomfortable. When pressed, he glanced side to side and blushed.

"I have to..." he cringed and lowered his voice. "I have to pee..."

"Oh..." Ryou glanced around for a solution to the problem, but Melvin was the only one who could open any of the doors in this place. At least from what he'd seen. "Piss over the side?" Ryou suggested sheepishly. "Yugi and I won't look. We promise."

Marik shook his head. "If he found out I peed on the floor, I'd never hear the end of it." He was shy enough about his bathroom habits without his sadistic doppelganger mocking him for it.

Ryou looked down, and then up. "I'll clean it up. He won't have to know."

"With what?" Marik asked. When Ryou began unwinding the cloth around his waist, Marik shook his head. "I couldn't make you do that. What would you wear?"

Ryou shrugged. "We're in this together, Marik. If we don't help each other, no one else will."

"Would you stop with the defeatist talk? It's not too late," Marik insisted.

Ryou forced a small smile. "All right. But optimism won't solve your current problem."

Marik sighed and hit his forehead against the bars a couple times. Finally, he mumbled, "Turn around and cover your ears."

Ryou and Yugi did just that. Ryou counted to forty and then turned back. Marik was facing the wall, lapsed into silence again. The albino cleaned up the mess without a word and stashed the cloth in the basin next to the toilet. He'd deal with it later. He prefered the comforting warmth of the pool, anyway. More hours passed without much to say. Each of them quietly processing their predicament.

###

Melvin entered the room with one hand behind his back, under his cape. His grin stretched inhumanly across his face. His eyes were wide, almost glowing. "Marik," he giggled. "I've got a surprise for you. Boy do I have one fucking hell of a surprise for you!"

Ryou sank down behind the lip of the fountain until just his eyes were visible. Yugi gripped the bars of his cage and cast a frantic glance at Marik. Even mid-orgasm, Melvin hadn't looked this excited. This wasn't going to end well.

Marik looked up from his knees, but remained pressed in the far corner of his cage. Melvin paused at the bars, grinning up at him for a long moment. Lavender eyes regarded the madman warily. Then Melvin slowly brought his hand out from under his cape and presented what appeared to be a large scrap of flesh for Marik's inspection. Melvin giggled some more, shivering with delight as he gave the oddly marked flap of skin a slight wave.

"Look familiar?" He asked slyly.

The transformation happened slowly. Marik's jaw fell open. His eyes widened and took on a horrified sparkle. His breath stopped, and then his chest started heaving. "No... No!" Without thinking, he lunged for the bars, reaching for what was left of Odion's face.

"Yes, yes!" Melvin spun away, cackling gleefully. "Dead, dead, all dead, just like your father," he chanted and laughed.

Marik rattled the bars as tears streamed from his eyes. "You bastard! You fuck! I'll kill you!"

Yugi just stared, totally at a loss for words. Marik... Oh, god, poor Marik...

Melvin beamed at him. "You can't kill a god, little thing," he said in a chillingly hollow voice. "All you can do is try to appease him and hope he shows mercy." With that, he strode over to Ryou, grabbed his hair, and yanked him out of the pool.

Ryou cried out in pain, stumbling to keep up as Melvin dragged him behind the purple and black curtains. He grabbed the pale wrists and pulled them up over Ryou's head. Then he secured the D-rings on the cuffs to one of the chains. The chain retracted into the ceiling until Ryou was forced to stand on his toes. Then he retrieved Yugi and hung him up next to Ryou. Once he left, presumably to get Marik, Ryou whispered, "Yugi," as he stared at the carelessly discarded scrap of skin on the ground. "The others..." He twisted his head to look at his friend.

Yugi shook his head as moisture condensed in his deep purple eyes. "Ryou..."

The two leaned together as best they could, taking solace in what physical contact they could get. They were alone. The three of them. Completely alone with the maniac.

Marik didn't care any more. He'd lost his ability to care. All he felt was hate. Anger. Despair. He contained himself, forcing his body to remain still until the cage opened. Then, with a cry of grief stricken vengeance, he launched himself at Melvin's crazy, stupid face.

The madman stepped back as Marik grasped at the cape where it fell around his shoulders. Before Marik could do anything else, the collar around his neck hummed with something like electricity. His muscles cramped and locked, spasming. The only thing that kept him from collapsing was his now involuntary grip on the purple fabric. Then the tension ran out of him abruptly and he found himself tucked under one of the muscular arms. Marik squirmed, shouting curses, but the electrical rush cut him off again. When the dancing lights cleared from his vision, he was hanging from the ceiling by his wrists. He could see Yugi and Ryou off to one side.

Melvin walked out from behind him. He'd removed his cape, and he was holding a whip. "You know what really tickles me about this?" He asked as he ran the whip between his hands.

Sweat prickled on Marik's skin as he stared at the weapon. He knew the bite of a whip. His skin crawled in awful anticipation.

"I saved you from this once," Melvin continued. He cracked the whip in the air and laughed when Marik cringed. "You never did thank me for that."

Marik glared at him. "Screw. You," he hissed.

"Hm." Melvin shrugged. "Maybe you'll be a little more grateful when I'm finished taking the scars you're always bitching about off your back." He stepped behind the bronze hikari and gave him a solid lash.

The wind rushed out of Marik's lungs, but he was almost glad for that. At least Melvin couldn't hear him cry out. His father had never whipped his back. Before the ritual, they'd needed a pure canvas. After the ritual, they'd needed to preserve the carvings. Anything else below his neck had been fair game, though. A quick sting to the arms or legs had been normal growing up. The violence Melvin rained down upon his flesh was much worse. Not intended to correct. Intended to harm. Intended to break skin. But Marik refused to give him the satisfaction of screams. Even when his silence only made the blows come harder, he refused to fold.

Bruises turned to welts. Welts split open inch by inch. Blood welled in the gashes and trickled down. Marik's eyes watered involuntarily as he gritted his teeth.

"You would be stubborn enough to defy a god," Melvin laughed.

"You're not a god," Marik gasped. "You're a lunatic on a power trip."

Tan fingers ran through blond hair. "You want to see power?" Melvin purred in Marik's ear. "I _know_ what scares you. Never forget. I took you out of the dark, and I can put you back in it." He walked over to the ring in the floor and pulled back the slab easily. Doing so revealed a small alcove under the floor, just big enough to fit one person inside.

Marik's heart started to thud. He _hated_ small, dark spaces. Melvin unhooked his wrists and pushed him toward the hole. Marik leaned back, resisting, but the wall of muscle behind him was too solid. The madman threw him to the floor like a rag doll and kicked him over the edge. Marik scrambled to roll over and sit up in the confining space. It wasn't any bigger than the inside of a sarcophagus. A second kick connected with his chest and he fell back again. The slab slammed into place.

Marik flinched, pressing his back into the floor for fear of being crushed. He squirmed in the following darkness. He had at most two inches of clearance on any given side. Not enough room. Not enough light. Not enough air. He struggled until he could press his palms against the stony surface above him, but it didn't budge. In fact, it almost seemed to press down harder, compacting the thick shadows around him. No room. No light. No air. Just thick, soupy darkness flooding his lungs, eyes, and ears.

"Let me out!" Marik tried to sound angry. The dense, impenetrable atmosphere caught his words and devoured them as soon as they fell from his lips. It sapped at his emotional defenses, condensing and refining them into chest clenching fear. "Stop it! Stop it, let me out!" He couldn't muster enough hate or anger to prevent the crack in his voice. "Let me out!" Less a command, more a desperate plea.

Melvin stood on the slab, listening with a calm smile as Marik's screams became more and more frantic. Finally, he looked up at the others and tilted his head. "You two..."

Ryou and Yugi both gulped as the madman approached them. He cupped Yugi's chin and studied his face.

"It's too bad I didn't manage to save a trophy from your grandfather. I would have loved to see the look on your face." He grinned at the heartbreak brimming in the deep purple eyes. "It all happened very quickly, you see. Very... completely... I guess I was too focused on finally being able to rip that thing off Odion's face. Silly me, getting all carried away..." He threaded the bloody whip through the D-rings on both of the collars. "No matter. I'll just have to think of another way to find out what 'shocked and devastated' looks like on your pretty little face." Yanking the whip pulled Ryou and Yugi's heads together. "You wear 'hopeless mourning' so well. I'm sure it will be a treat."

Yugi used the opportunity to hide his face against Ryou's neck. He couldn't deal with this right now. He felt like his heart was imploding.

Released from the chains, the pair of hikaris sagged to the floor. Yugi clung to Ryou and Ryou held him in return, but the brown eyes were turned up toward Melvin. It wasn't the time to mourn. He had to save his feelings for later. He'd had a lot of practice saving his feelings for later. Yugi hadn't.

Melvin towered over them. The sconces lit his halo of wild hair up like the sun. The makeshift leash was wrapped around one fist. His free hand untucked his waist wrap and let it fall around his ankles. A yank on the whip pulled them both up into a kneeling position with their cheeks pressed together. "Appease your god," he smirked.

Ryou bit his lip and brought one hand up to the base of Melvin's shaft. He started to lean forward, but hesitated when Yugi balked. He didn't want to force Yugi's participation. Under other circumstances he would've done the deed while Yugi cried in the corner and felt no ill will toward his friend for it. Being pinned together, however, removed that option. Right now he needed Yugi to snap out of it.

"Don't get me all hot and bothered with those beautiful tears and then be a tease about it, little thing," Melvin taunted. "You're going to be crying and sucking this cock a lot. You may as well get used to it."

Between their hips where Melvin couldn't see, Ryou's hand found Yugi's and squeezed it. There was a pause before the smaller hand returned the squeeze. They both leaned in and licked opposite sides of Melvin's shaft. Yugi squeaked and blushed as his tongue accidentally brushed Ryou's. A tug on their collars pulled their faces closer together, almost into a kiss, so that Melvin could grind his cock between their parted lips. Changing angles slightly, he gave Ryou's mouth a few slow pumps. Then he switched to Yugi's mouth. He alternated between them for a while, getting rougher each time.

Eventually he let go of the whip and put a hand on the back of each head. Continuing to fuck Yugi's throat, he forced Ryou's mouth down to his balls. Ryou shuddered, but he worked at them with his lips and tongue anyway. As Marik's muffled voice cried in terror, Melvin cackled with delight.

"Yes. Worship me, my little slaves. I'm your king. Your god. The only reason you live."

Ryou squeezed Yugi's hand harder as he felt the testicles in his mouth tighten and pulse. Yugi cried out in startled disgust. When Melvin allowed Ryou to come up for air, Ryou found Yugi with his head forced back and cum running down his cheek. Fresh tears ran from the deep purple eyes as they stared up at the soulless violet ones. Clear salty droplets coursed paths through white salty splatters.

Melvin tilted his head and chuckled. "I wonder how long it would take you to cry all of that off." He stared the short hikari down for several long moments.

"I'm sorry," Marik's muffled sobs interrupted, drawing the madman's attention. "Please make the darkness go away. Please!"

With a snort and a smirk, Melvin released the two hikaris' hair and patted them on the heads. "I'll be back later to decide who gets to eat." Without another word to them, he dressed himself, retrieved the Rod, put the whip back in the gold cabinet, and left.

As soon as he'd stepped away, Yugi had resumed sobbing into Ryou's neck. Ryou let him, ignoring the mixture of bodily fluids that glued Yugi's cheek to his shoulder. As soon as he heard the exit close behind their tormentor, he reluctantly left Marik to take Yugi to the pool. They huddled in the warm, cleansing water, holding each other as they mourned the friends and family they'd never see again.

 **Author's Note: That's what I have so far. I'm leaving it open to add on as I have more ideas or more time.**


	4. Chapter 4

Much later, once Yugi had managed to regain some of his composure, he pulled away from Ryou and wiped his eyes on the back of his arm. "We should-" his voice hitched. "Check on Marik..." He didn't know what he could do. He could barely talk. Barely think without his brain turning over to his last memory of his grandpa's face. He tried not to think of how Melvin had done it, but the ambiguous hints weighed heavily on his mind. 'Completely.' Nothing left. Obliterated. Messy... 'Quickly.' Abrupt. Sudden. A sudden and messy death... More tears threatened. It didn't feel like they would ever stop. With two simple words, Melvin had reached into his chest and crushed his heart.

Ryou was familiar with loss. Loss of family. Loss of friends. Loss of freedom. But the pharaoh had given him hope when he'd defeated the Ring Spirit in their first shadow game. He hadn't realized that until he'd had it taken away again. The Ring Spirit... the one time the arrogant parasite could've actually benefited Ryou, he'd had to lose to bloody Melvin. "I hope he has enough air..." There was something Ryou wasn't familiar with. Suffering together. At least he wasn't completely alone.

Marik had stopped screaming. That was the first thing they'd noticed. At first Ryou panicked, hurrying to the slab and pressing his ear against it. The sound of muffled sobbing assured him that Marik was still alive and conscious. "Can you hear me?" Ryou called.

There was a pause, and then a weak, scratchy, "Where is he?"

"He left," Yugi said.

Marik groaned and squirmed. He felt sticky and foggy. The air felt hot on his skin and heavy in his lungs. In a distant way, he realized his hands, knees, head, and elbows all hurt. He wondered how long the madman intended to leave him like this.  
Up top, Ryou and Yugi both grabbed the ring and pulled. Whether it was secured somehow or just too heavy, moving it was beyond their ability. Melvin had lifted it with one hand.

They tried to make small talk with Marik through the slab to distract him, but it was hard to hear him. He'd screamed his throat raw, and he sounded pretty dazed. "He won't let him suffocate, right?" Yugi whispered to Ryou. "He said he wanted us alive... right?"

"We should have time. There's five hours worth of air in a coffin..." Ryou said.

Yugi blinked. "How do you know that?"

Ryou hunched his shoulders. "I used to watch a lot of horror films, before I moved to Domino and the Spirit started dominating our- my body all the time. I've even memorized a couple of my favorites."

Yugi was trying to think of something else to say to Marik when the sound of the door interrupted him. The pair of hikaris instinctively scooted away from the silhouette moving around the other room. Eventually it approached and Melvin breezed through a gap between the curtains. A tight-lipped smile spread slowly across his face, but he mostly ignored Ryou and Yugi. Instead, he went straight to the ring in the floor and effortlessly lifted the stone panel.  
Marik's hand appeared through the gap as soon as it was available. His fingernails were torn and bloody from panicked scratching. His elbows were scratched and bruised from panicked thrashing. Sweat glittered on his skin as he dragged his upper body into the light and gasped in lungfuls of fresh air.  
Melvin discard the slab to one side and put a foot on Marik's back. "What's the password, tartlet?"

"Th- thank you..." Marik croaked.

"For what?" Melvin pressed, grinding his heal into one of the bloodier lash marks.

Marik winced. "For saving me from the darkness..."

"And?"

"And..." Marik struggled to think. "Killing my father...?"

Melvin chuckled. "Yes. It was very nice of me to help you with that, wasn't it?" He brought his foot down hard on Marik's back. "Don't forget." Then he stepped back and surveyed all three of them with an almost pleasant smile, except that it didn't match the chilling madness in his eyes. "Now..." He cocked his head. "Who's hungry?"

Yugi and Ryou stared at the bronze hikari panting at the madman's feet. Yugi wanted to go to him, but he felt paralyzed.

Melvin rolled his eyes and cupped the top of the Rod with his free hand. "Don't everyone jump up at once," he muttered. The Rod glowed, and all three of them cried out in pain as they clutched at their collars. "I said," he repeated louder as the glow faded, "Who's hungry?"

Fixing his gaze on Melvin, Ryou grabbed Yugi's wrist and raised both their hands. After a moment, Marik lifted his hand and let it fall again.

"That's what I thought," Melvin nodded. "Come on." He gestured over his shoulder as he headed toward the main part of the room.

Ryou and Yugi helped Marik to his feet and hurried to keep up. They all knew it was bad. There was never anything good about Melvin's appearances. Even the tentative promise of food couldn't fix that. But if they didn't play along, he'd hurt them some other way.

The madman had stopped at the opposite side of the gilded table and turned to face them. The contents of the table weren't very reassuring; a lumpy burlap sack about the size of a grocery bag, a small rope loop, and three daggers. Melvin braced his hands on the table and leaned forward slightly. "We're going to play a game," he announced, grinning. "The winner," he reached into the bag and pulled out an apple, "gets to eat."

The three captives exchanged nervous glances.

Melvin laughed. "Don't look so worried. It's really very simple." He put the apple down and picked up the rope. "Each of you will hold onto this with one hand. Each of you gets a knife. All you have to do is fight each other, until two of you decide you've had enough and let go."

Yugi's eyes widened incredulously. Attacking anyone, least of all his friends, with a knife was not something he could do. Before he could say anything, Marik pulled away from them and walked up to the table. He glanced from Melvin, to the knives, and back again. Watching the madman carefully, he slowly picked up a blade.

Marik looked over his shoulder at the other two. Then he lunged across the table, sweeping the Rod and other knives onto the floor as he climbed. Melvin grabbed Marik's cocked arm. Marik tried to get the knife into his other hand, but that arm was summarily immobilized as well. In spite of the attempt on his life, Melvin looked more amused than anything else.

"You realize I wasn't being facetious when I told you that you can't kill a god, right?" Melvin asked.

Marik struggled, but the psycho remained as still and stable as an iron statue.

The madman actually laughed a little. "You'd never take me at my word, though, would you. Fine. I'll give you a freebie before I punish you. Just to satisfy your curiosity." He released Marik's wrists and put his arms out to his sides. Lifting his chin slightly, he said, "Pick a good place. This is the last chance you'll get."

Marik glared at the smug smirk. Odion's face. All he could think about was Odion's face. He jammed the knife into Melvin's left eye, driving it deep into the socket. Dark stuff spilled out, too black and thick to be blood. Ryou and Yugi cried out in shock. Marik wrenched the knife free and raised it again. He didn't get the chance to bring it down. Before he registered what was happening, he was belly down on the table with his arm twisted behind his back and Melvin leaning over him.

"I said 'one,'" Melvin said calmly. He pried the knife out of Marik's fingers. Then he wiped the thick gunk off his face and blinked his apparently undamaged eye to clear it. He looked at the other two. "This one is disqualified. Lucky for you."

Yugi shuddered. "I- I want to forfeit."

Melvin narrowed his eyes, and then laughed. "Let me guess. You'd rather starve than hurt anybody."

Yugi stared at the ground. It wasn't a question, so he didn't answer.

"You think you're so brave, suffering for your friends," Melvin sneered. "Well, I've got a conundrum for you, chibi. What if you had to choose?"

Heart thudding harder, Yugi hazarded a peek at the maniac. "Choose?" He asked, his voice thick.

Melvin pressed a palm between Marik's shoulders and pulled the arm he'd pinned straight out behind Marik. The bronze hikari groaned as his shoulder protested being bent that way. A warm mouth licked and sucked at the tips of his fingers. With their protective shell cracked and torn, the saliva stung the sensitive skin.

"I still have to punish this little bitch for biting," Melvin finally said. "I was thinking I'd finish removing all of his fingernails."

Marik shuddered and tried to wriggle free, but the psycho only pinned him harder, curling his fingers so that claws dug into one of the bloody gashes.

"However, I'm willing to let one slide for each cut you land on each other." Half-lidded eyes leered at Ryou. "You have such exciting skin. I love watching you bleed."

The short hikari cringed. It wasn't a choice he wanted to make. But he couldn't let Melvin _rip off_ Marik's _finger nails_!

Ryou moved first, stepping forward and kneeling to pick up the fallen knives. His eyes remained averted from both Marik and Melvin as he snagged the rope from the table. With his back to the their captor, he held a knife out to Yugi and whispered, "Five each isn't so bad."

Yugi's lips trembled as Ryou made him close his fingers around the handle.

"It'll be okay," he whispered as he wrapped the loop of roped once around his hand. "Just get through it." He wrapped another part of the loop around Yugi's hand and wrist, and then stepped back. His eyes were sad, but resigned.

Yugi took a deep breath and took a stance as well, trying to look into it. Ryou gritted his teeth and swung at him. The short hikari yelped and shrank away. The blade barely nicked the upper part of his left arm. Deep purple eyes darted between Ryou and Melvin.

Melvin casually twisted Marik's arm behind his back and picked up the third knife. It was still sticky with whatever stuff passed for his blood. He traced the tip of the blade across the tips of Marik's fingers.

Yugi squeezed his eyes shut and lashed out randomly, sort of hoping he'd just missed. The sound Ryou made quickly squashed that dream. Yugi opened one eye to see Ryou wincing at a three-inch cut along his forearm. It wasn't deep, but the sight of it almost startled Yugi into dropping the knife. Both eyes open now, Yugi opened his mouth to apologize, but stopped when Ryou gave him a stern look. Behind him, Melvin chuckled and lowered his knife back to the table.

The 'fight' went on like that for several more strokes, with Yugi lashing out blindly because he couldn't make himself look and Ryou carefully pulling each punch. After the first 'lucky' strike, Yugi missed a couple in his hesitation, but eventually the two of them together managed to total ten. The short hikari dropped his knife and disentangled his hand immediately, too relieved for the end to feel the sting in his arms and hands.

Melvin finally released Marik and approached, clapping slowly. "That was a pathetic display, chibi thing, but it will have to do..." he trailed off to lean down to Yugi's level and whisper, "this time." Then he straightened and grabbed Ryou's upper arm. "Claim your prize, panda bear. You may eat until the blank one finishes cleaning up the tartlet's mess." He moved to drag Ryou to the bath.

"But I surrendered first," Yugi protested. "I landed fewer hits... I..."

Melvin regarded him with a bored expression and tugged at Ryou's arm. "This one obviously can't eat. He's going to be too busy bathing me."

Yugi opened his mouth, and then shut it.

A golden brow arched. "Are you implying no one should eat?"

"No..." Yugi whispered. "I just..."

Muscular shoulders rose and fell. "Eat, don't eat. Either way I'm taking any leftovers with me when I leave." He dragged Ryou to the water, apparently losing interest in the conversation.

Approaching the bag cautiously, Yugi reached inside and pulled out the apple. His stomach growled at just the feel of it on his finger tips.

Marik watched him from a kneeling position, with his chin on his forearms and his forearms on the table. "I swear if you don't eat that I'm going to slap you myself."

Yugi turned to him, startled.

"Knock it off with the self-martyring charade. The only reason he declared you the winner is because he knew it would hurt you more. Stop buying into his game."

Yugi shuddered. "I hate violence..."

"I noticed, but don't tell _him_ that." Marik rested his cheek on his arms, watching Ryou clean the 'blood' from Melvin's face and neck.

Feeling slightly less guilty without Marik watching him, Yugi turned his back to everyone else and ate as much of the fruit as he could. It felt great in his stomach. After the two or three days of going hungry, his stomach had almost forgotten that being full was a thing. He tried to detach and enjoy it, but he couldn't quite stop worrying about Ryou and Marik.


	5. Chapter 5

In the pool, straddling Melvin's lap once more, Ryou poured soap into his hand. It wasn't the nudity that bothered him this time, or the hands gripping his hips, or the eyes counting his new cuts. He raised the hand to Melvin's neck first, shivering as he forced himself to touch the black rivulets. Whatever it was, it hadn't dried like normal blood, either. It was cold. Still viscous. Literally inhuman. He was sitting in the lap of some sort of demon.

As he moved from Melvin's neck to Melvin's cheek, he had to look at his face. It was strange how the same face that was sort of pretty on Marik could be so horrifying on this monster. It was the eyes, Ryou decided as he cleaned. The unnatural violet voids. They watched Ryou like they wanted to bend him over the edge of the bath. The hands on his hips slid down and around to cup his bruised backside. They squeezed. Hard. Harder. Until nails dug in and squeezed a whimper and a single tear out of the pale hikari.

"Why did you stop?" Melvin asked in a calm, casual voice that didn't match the cruelty of his hands.

The albino opened his eyes, realizing he'd gone rigidly still. He gulped and kept cleaning. Melvin continued tormenting the already abused flesh mercilessly, observing Ryou's reactions with a mild curiosity.

###

Ryou drank some water from the top of the pyramid in the center of the pool. The stream of water was always fresh, and he hoped to trick his empty belly into feeling full.

"Guys," Yugi said, moving to sit on one of the couches. He cast a nervous glance at the door to make sure Melvin wasn't going to suddenly reappear. Then he reached into the waist of his wrap and pulled out a banana. "You'll have to split it. I'm sorry I couldn't hide more."

Marik blinked, and then laughed. Of course the short hikari would rather risk being punished than watch the other two starve. "You apologize too much," he said as he hurried to join Yugi on the couch. His stomach screamed. His mouth watered. However, the little discomforts weren't enough to distract him from the startling sting that reminded him how thoroughly Melvin had torn up his back when he tried to settle into the cushions.

Ryou pulled a pillow onto the floor and knelt on it. The pain from the pinching and squeezing still throbbed beneath his skin. The pale hikari thought Melvin might've squeezed hard enough to create a few new bruises. He consumed his half of the fruit without saying anything, focusing entirely on how good it felt to have something besides water in his stomach for a change.

"What the hell was that?" Marik suddenly asked.

Ryou stared at his hands. He knew what Marik meant without clarification. They were all thinking it on some level. "I don't know," Ryou said. "It was cold, and sticky." He shuddered. "His face..."

"Was it damaged all?" Marik asked with an edge of frustration.

Ryou shook his head. "No..."

"We can't leave... We can't kill him... We definitely can't reason with him..." Marik tugged and twisted his bangs. There had to be something. Something he'd overlooked. Trap him? The slab was nothing to him. And besides, he'd moved so fast when he'd subdued Marik. Could the three of them working together overpower him before he activated the damn collars? "I can't give up. I've always been a fighter."

"Then fight a different fight," Ryou murmured. "It's not a fight to win. It's a fight to keep going."

"He killed Bakura, and Odion, and Ishizu. I'm supposed to let him get away with that?" Marik ranted.

"It's not letting if you tried," Ryou pointed out. He smiled a little in spite of himself. "I can't believe you actually stabbed the wanker. You've got nerves of steel."

Marik wasn't sure what to do with the comment. Part of him wanted to take it as a compliment and be happy. Part of him wanted to make a dig at Ryou over how quickly he'd folded. He sighed and took a more middle ground. "I wanted him to feel some of the pain that Odion felt. I don't think it worked."

There was silence. Yugi broke it with, "He's only here for a couple hours each day. We could try to make the Melvin-free hours as normal as possible."

Marik put his head in his hands. "It's like being in the tomb again," he mumbled. Right down to waiting for the angry monster to show up and hurt him.

"Or the Ring," Ryou sighed. "Trying to go about my life, wondering if I'm going to make it to school for once, or wake up in an alley with blood on my hands."

Marik winced and changed the subject. "At least I'm already used to life without TV. I'm going to miss it, though..."

"We can make our own TV," Yugi suggested. "Didn't you say you'd memorized your favorite movies, Ryou?"

The pale hikari rubbed the back of his head. "I could practically recite them, but I don't know if horror is the most appropriate thing. Don't we have enough of that?"

"It's better than sitting around staring at each other," Yugi said softly. "Please, Ryou. I can't take the silence. It makes me miss Yami. It makes me think about-" He choked on the word 'grandpa.'

"Okay. Let me think of a good one," Ryou acquiesced. He did want to give them every motivation to keep living. His biggest fear in the whole situation was actually ending up permanently alone. Yugi probably wouldn't let that happen if he could help it, but he was worried Marik's vengeful determination would get Marik killed. Then he'd only have one person between him and eternal isolation. At least, one person and one demon, but he didn't want to have to turn to a demon for comfort. Not again.

They wound up gathered at the pool. Ryou stretched out on his stomach with his fingers swirling the water as he recited a story. Yugi and Marik crouched in the shallows while Yugi gently cleaned Marik's back. They focused hard on the pale hikari's words, trying to construct images in their heads, occasionaly interrupting with questions. It helped keep most of the mournful thoughts at bay.

###

None of them slept that day or night. Not really. When they'd hit the point of pure physical exhaustion, they'd made a pile of pillows and curled up together, none wanting to be alone with their thoughts. They took turns drifting in and out of consciousness, murmuring confused half sentences to each other when they were awake enough. At some point they all managed to pass out at the same time, and that was how the madman found them when he returned.

Melvin cocked his head and prodded Yugi with the rod. "Panda bear."

Deep purple eyes blinked, shooting open wide when he realized who'd disturbed him.

"Aren't my little birds so sweet nesting together," Melvin teased as he pulled Yugi up by a fistful of hair.

Yugi cringed. Adrenaline flooded his system, fighting to rouse his groggy brain. Damp breath and warm lips caressed his ear.

"I've got something special for you," Melvin hissed. He gave the short hikari's ear a languid lick, and then giggled.

Yugi didn't like the giggle. The only other time he'd heard that giggle was when Melvin had waltzed in brandishing Odion's disembodied scars. He didn't seem to have anything but the Rod with him this time, however. And, Yugi realized as Melvin yanked him toward the couch, an erection that the shendyt did a poor job of hiding. The madman shoved him onto the furniture and forced his head back.

The violet eyes captured Yugi's gaze much the same way they'd pinned Ryou to the table the other day. "Open your mouth and stick out your tongue." The voice was a low purr that didn't pair right with the gleeful leer.

Shaking now, Yugi obeyed, too scared to move otherwise. He heard fabric rustle and caught movement in his peripheral vision, but he kept his eyes on the face of insanity looming over him. It disheartened him to realize that the sensation of Melvin's cock gliding over his tongue was already a familiar one. Something was different, though. The taste. A saltiness that was much lighter than the flavor of Melvin's precum. Vaguely metallic. The short hikari braced himself for the choking to start, but Melvin merely stroked himself slowly up and down the length of Yugi's tongue, making sure he tasted...

"Do you know what that is?" Melvin purred, his voice leading. The corners of his smile twitched as it fought to grow wider. A wilder emotion simmering impatiently below a tense surface.

Yugi's spine tingled. He couldn't speak with Melvin's cock in his mouth, so he could only wait for the madman to answer his own question. He was sure the answer would come, and just as sure that it was an answer he'd rather not hear.

Melvin gripped the sides of Yugi's head. Stepping back, he leaned forward until their noses almost touched. The next two words were a harsh whisper. "Tea. Gardener."

Yugi's heart spasmed against his ribs. His stomach churned and his chest heaved shallowly, but he couldn't breathe. The face in front of him blurred as the mad grin stretched impossibly wide.

"Yes!" Melvin crowed. "There it is! 'Shocked devastation.'"

His wild laughter startled the other two hikaris awake. They instinctively pulled closer to each other.

Yugi thought he was going to throw up. He honestly thought he was going to throw up.

The cackle trailed off into a chuckle as Melvin removed his cape. "You're almost as pale as the blank one." Then he pounced, pinning Yugi to the couch and ripping away his waist wrap.

Was that the last thing Tea had seen? The mad predator crouching over her? Was the gut-twisting fear the last thing she'd felt? Not quite the last thing, he realized with horror. As Melvin grabbed his hips and forced him over onto his stomach, the realization that he was about to get an idea of the last thing she felt finally cut through his shock. He didn't struggle, though. He just whimpered her name.

"Interesting." The larger body settled onto the smaller one. "She moaned your name, too." Raising his pitch and affecting a sobbing tremble, he whispered, "Yugi... Yugi..."

The short hikari's breath hitched and he covered his ears, tucking his chin against his chest. Rough hands gripped his wrists and pulled his arms down by his sides.

"She only stopped when I squeezed her throat."

Yugi shook his head, silently begging him to stop taunting and get it over with already. He didn't want to know what the monster had done to Tea. But he could also hear and feel that the monster was enjoying the sadistic foreplay as much as if not more than the act itself.

"She was such a frail, inconsiderate little mortal. Moaning someone else's name. Dying before I could finish." He clicked mock disapproval.

Melvin said something else, but Yugi didn't hear it. Something inside him snapped, and this time he screamed her name. It took his breath away. By the time Melvin forced entry, all the short hikari could manage was a sharp, wheezing inhalation. Melvin braced his knees against the couch cushions and yanked on Yugi's wrists, heaving him up and back until he was on his knees, bent at the hips, with his spine arched. His shoulders protested the position as Melvin started hammering into him. The cuffs dug into his wrists with each jab.

Melvin threw his head back and laughed, high on the thrill of a kill. High on the thrill of Yugi's pain. High on the thrill of the pair of eyes watching the gruesome scene with the paralyzed glaze of cornered prey animals. He grinned wildly at them, laughing again when they curled tighter together, as though being smaller could make them invisible.

When Melvin finally finished, Yugi flopped with his head and one arm hanging over the edge of the furniture. He felt sick and light-headed. His stomach heaved between sobs and he had to fight to keep the contents down. Still on top of him, still inside him, the psycho pulled on Yugi's shoulder, twisting his torso at the waist until he was almost up on one shoulder. A tongue curled under his jaw and then traced a slow trail up the side of his flushed face. Yugi squeaked.

The dark form rose from the couch and fixed his gaze on Ryou. Breathing heavily, Ryou forced his unsteady legs to unfold and got to his feet. Bath time. Bath time was easy. He still flinched and yelped when the tan fingers latched around his arm.

As Melvin led Ryou away, he shot Marik a wink. Marik hugged himself and clenched his jaw. Two down. One to go. He didn't know when, but he would be next.


	6. Chapter 6

Marik and Yugi hid in the curtained-off area around the toilet. Yugi slumped over the hole, sniffling and whimpering in between dry heaves. Marik slumped against the wall, too exhausted to think but too adrenaline high to sleep until Melvin left.

"It's all my fault," Yugi moaned softly. "You were right. The pharaoh let you down. We let everyone down. I wish I was strong enough to fix it. But I'm not. I can't save anyone... Not even you two..."

With a sigh that turned into a yawn, Marik shook his head. "I shouldn't have let him get so far."

"You didn't even know about him."

"I knew something was wrong. Weird, stray thoughts pretending to be my own... The way Odion watched me sideways when I got too upset... I think I knew something was wrong, but I didn't care."

Yugi stared into the blackness for a long time. Shaking. His arms framed the hole. Gold shone dully around bruised wrists. "I'll forgive you if you forgive me..." he murmured. He'd tried to make it a joke, but his voice just couldn't get there.

###

Yugi managed to collect himself a little in Melvin's absence. The anxiety was still there, fluttering at the back of his mind. The deep, excruciating pain in his abdomen was still there. He discovered why Ryou had opted to spend so much time floating after his attack. The warm weightlessness hurt less than trying to settle anywhere.

Ryou played with his hair, combing and stroking, braiding and unbraiding. Anything that would keep his hands busy and his mind off his stomach. He wished he had a mirror. "Marik?" He looked around for the bronze hikari.

Before Marik could answer, they heard the sound outside the door that made them all freeze. Melvin, back with... food. Marik's stomach throbbed and he found himself thinking he might actually try to get it this time. Hindered by hunger and listlessness, he was even more useless against Melvin. It was something the three of them should've discussed, but they'd all been avoiding any Melvin-related topics so desperately.

None of them moved as Melvin placed the bag on the gold table. He surveyed them coldly, twirling the Rod in his hands. "You know what? I think that whenever I enter the room, I want you three to drop what you're doing and line up here," he gestured a line across the floor with the Rod.

Yugi started to reach for his clothes.

"Leave it," Melvin said.

Visibly shaking, Yugi slipped into line between Ryou and Marik. He clasped his hands in front of himself, and stared at the floor.

A tiny smile pulled at Melvin's lips. "Kneel down."

Once more they obeyed. Yugi was almost relieved. He hadn't been sure how long his legs could hold him up.

"Good. That's good." Grinning now, Melvin moved to their side of the table and leaned against it with his arms crossed. He took a moment to really enjoy the sight of them bowed to his will. "One of these things is not like the other ones," he finally said as he looked at Marik. "Undress."

Marik narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Because we're going to play a game."

None of them wanted to know what sort of game required them to be naked. Marik stripped, but not without an irritated huff.

Melvin chuckled. "Very good. Keep this up and I may not have to hurt any of you. Wouldn't that be nice? The prize is the same. One of you gets to eat for as long as it takes the other two to suck me off." He said it casually, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Yugi's fists tightened on his knees and he focused even harder on the marble floor.

"All you three have to do is jerk off. First one to finish wins."

There was a second of stunned silence, and then Yugi made a sobbing noise.

Melvin frowned at him. "What, chibi's got a problem with this game, too? Don't you love games?" He sneered. "Being the king of them and all?"

"I wouldn't call your thinly veiled tortures and humiliations games," Marik growled.

"Did I say 'King of Games,'" Melvin turned his glare on Marik, "or did I say 'Princess of Bitching?'"

The lavender eyes seethed, but Marik stayed silent and still.

Melvin tapped the Rod against his palm. "I don't think you three appreciate how _nice_ I've been to you. I don't think you understand how much _worse_ things could be." He started pacing, slowly at first, but getting more animated and upset as he ranted. "Sure I have to feed you eventually. Sure I won't kill you on purpose. But I didn't _have_ to give you this big, comfortable room. You don't _need_ all of your fingers and toes and eyes and ears. I could mutilate you without killing you. I could _cripple_ you without killing you! I could keep you _all_ in little, dark, stone coffins, only pulling you out when I want to use your flesh and crush your souls! Maybe I _should._ "

None of them were looking at him anymore. Ryou finally murmured, just loud enough to be heard, "We're sorry. You've been very generous."

"Oh, shut up!" Melvin snapped, knocking Ryou across the side of the head with the Rod. One of the wings sliced across his cheek. "Don't think I haven't noticed you coaching him along. I'm sure the chibi is perfectly capable of answering for himself." Melvin stopped, looming over the short hikari. "Well?"

Yugi forced his tight chest to expand. "I didn't mean to... imply..."

Melvin squatted in front of him and lifted his chin with the Rod. Narrowed eyes smoldered.

"I'm..." Yugi gulped. "I'm..." He was in no mental state to do this, and he was afraid that Melvin would do something horrible to the others if he couldn't. Even if he tried and failed. But if he admitted that, Melvin would do something horrible just to tease him. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."

Melvin smiled. "I almost hope you lose, panda bear. Those big, soft eyes of yours are so enticing when you cry." He stood and leaned against the table again. "On three, little things. One. Two." He grinned. "Three."

Marik wanted to eat. He really did. His face flushed with embarassment and frustration. He could feel Melvin's eyes on him. Judging him. Laughing at him. He was sure Melvin remembered Marik's first encounter with the concept of touching himself. The caning of the backs of his hands and the lecture that only a woman's hands should ever touch him like that. That touching oneself was an act of pure vanity and how dare a tomb keeper be anything but humble. Ishizu blushing and pretending she hadn't heard the loud, angry ranting. There wasn't much privacy in that tomb. Marik had repressed those memories and feelings visciously, even almost forgetting them in his quest for vengeance, until he'd met Bakura. He tried to think of that electrifying smirk. Of the denim-clad hip cocked with a challenging arrogance that had made Marik want to rip off those jeans and reduce Bakura to a moaning, blushing mess. But on the tail end of that thought, the treacherous realization that he'd never taken that leap, and now he never would. He would never get to think about sex without the heady chill of fear gripping him. So Marik tried. He tried, he tried, he tried, but he just couldn't do it.

Yugi didn't want to give Melvin an excuse to hurt the others. He knew Melvin would always _find_ an excuse, but he didn't want to be the one to _give_ it to him. His stomach churned with anxiety. He didn't have any hang ups on the act of masturbation on its own. He'd done it before, in the shower, thinking about Tea in her gym shorts. Tea smiling and running toward him, waving, with sunlight glowing in her hair. That smile that was so big and full of life that it crinkled her eyes. He'd fantasized about kissing her cheeks and neck until she giggled that musical giggle. He'd wanted his first time to be with Tea, slow and fumbling and perhaps clumsy, but full of comfortable laughter. Not what had been done to him, fast and harsh and unforgiving. Not what had been done to her, cold and careless and vengeful. His body hurt. His heart hurt. The monster towered over him, thriving on his misery. Melvin would never stop hurting them. So Yugi tried, for the sake of the others, for the sake of appearances, but his heart just wasn't in it.

Ryou felt hollow and dull in the way that he'd usually felt when the Ring Spirit had pushed him out of their body. He cooperated because choosing not to never crossed his mind. That was the only thing to do when an entity more powerful than him made demands. Step back from himself and let his body do what needed to be done. He didn't have anyone to think about, which made finding a starting point difficult. He'd never had anyone to think about. There was not point in hoping to maintain a relationship that didn't have the Spirit's blessing, and the Spirit never blessed any relationship that wouldn't further his apocalyptic goals. When Ryou was present in his body and happened to be physically aroused, just getting to feel something was all the motivation he needed to finish. Sometimes the Spirit watched him impatiently while he waited for him to finish. Sometimes he made his presence less apparent. It didn't matter. He was used to being watched. He was used to clearing his mind and running purely on physical feeling. So Ryou tried, until with a hitch of his breath and a few stuttering moans, he Polloked the dark marble with white.

"Ha!" Melvin barked. "How did I know the broken suck-up would win?"

Ryou said nothing, hiding his pink cheeks behind his hair as his mind settled back into awareness. Until Melvin used his foot to lift Ryou's chin.

"Do you get off on this shit?" Melvin asked. "Being threatened into submission and told what to do?"

"I don't know," Ryou answered in a shaky voice.

"We'll have spend more time seeing how deep this masochistic vein runs," Melvin mused. "Stay as you are. All of you. Don't move."

They heard him walk toward the area with the chains. Marik watched as much as he could, moving only his eyes. The other two clenched their hands in their laps. Melvin returned with two short chains that he fastened to the rings on Yugi and Marik's collars.

The tension in Yugi's chest increased until his arms tingled.

Tan fingers caught a lock of white hair and slicked down it, pulling just a little too hard. "Eat up, rabbit," Melvin purred. Then he looked down at the other two. "Crawl with me."

Marik gritted his teeth as he dragged himself along side Melvin. He could feel his doppelganger's eyes on his back. Scars torn through by scabs. What a mess he must be.

Melvin settled onto the same couch where he'd broken in Yugi and pulled the pair of hikaris close, so they knelt at either side of his legs. Violet eyes met lavender ones first. "What has it been... Four days? Five?"

The bronze hikari didn't even need to ask what he'd meant. His stomach screamed and begged and cried, though he fought to keep the pain off his face.

"You really need to step up your game, tartlet," Melvin continued, wearing an expression of mild amusement. "You must be getting _desperate_ to put something in your stomach."

Remembering what they were supposed to be doing while Ryou ate, Marik's face flinched. The slip made the madman's eyes light up gleefully.

Melvin gave Yugi a sideways look and tugged at his collar. The short hikari pushed the black shendyt up to Melvin's stomach and started working him with one hand. Smiling now, Melvin addressed the bronze hikari again. "How far do you think you can push your stubborness? Until you starve yourself to death? Until I snap and do something you can't survive?"

"You'd rather watch me suffer than let me go," Marik said softly. "You wouldn't let me die."

"Are you sure? I have two other perfectly good toys to play with. I don't _need_ you. You're only worth your level of amusement. If your existence becomes boring, what makes you so sure I'd continue to allow it? Dying would be the last amusement you could provide, and after that there would be nothing to miss."

As the lavender gaze fell, he caught Yugi watching him with wide, wet eyes.

"Are you going to be amusing?" Melvin purred. "Or are you going to be boring?"

It wasn't a fight to win. It was a fight to survive. Bakura fought to survive for 3000 years without giving up. "Of course I don't want to be boring," Marik muttered.

"Great!" Melvin turned his full attention to Yugi. "Show him how I like it, chibi."

Yugi closed his eyes, leaned over his captor's lap, and took him past his gag reflex. He bobbed his head with short, fast motions. When Melvin finally let him stop, Yugi's face was red and his cheeks were wet. He couldn't watch Marik being subjected to the same fate, but he heard the bronze hikari trying to cough as Melvin forced his head down.

Marik finally came up, as much as the chain at his throat allowed, catching his breath.

A tug pulled Yugi's face close again, and for a long while it was all brushing tongues, cheeks, lips, and noses as Melvin made them work together. Toward the end, he let Yugi go so he could control Marik's head with both hands.

Marik made a muffled sound of frustrated disgust.

"Suck it down, princess," Melvin laughed. "It's all your stomach's going to get today."


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Just a heads up, this chapter is kind of bloody...**

Marik draped his arm across his eyes, nursing a headache. He wouldn't have even noticed the sound at the door if the other two hadn't hopped up and run to kneel on the floor. Marik rolled off the pile of pillows and pushed himself to his feet. He saw Melvin turn Ryou's face and stroke his scabbed cheek with a thumb. Then the madman straightened up and crossed his arms. His face fell to an impatient neutral as he waited for Marik to join them.

"Getting pretty hungry, aren't you?" Melvin grinned as Marik fell into place at the end of the row.

Marik just nodded.

"Well guess what," Melvin said, cupping Marik's face in both hands.

"We're going to play a game?" Marik mumbled.

"Mhm..." Melvin purred, nodding. "You should be relieved. I've actually decided to be merciful." He crouched, pulling Marik's face close to his. "You know your turn is coming," he breathed as he dug his thumbnails into the bronze cheeks. "I want you strong and alert for what I'm going to do to you. It wouldn't be any fun if you passed right out." He stood and reached into the bag on the table. Then he held an orange out over Marik's head.

The bronze hikari hesitated. He reached for it slowly. When Melvin pulled it out of his reach and tilted his head, Marik sighed. Mustering as much sincerity as he could, he cupped his hands in front of him and said, "Thank you."

Melvin's face tightened, but he dropped the fruit into the waiting palms.

Marik's heart lurched. His damaged fingernails scrabbled at the waxy surface for a bit before he impatiently tore into the rind with his teeth. Once he had enough fruit revealed, he bit into it like an apple. The beads of pulp popped between his teeth, flooding his mouth with sugary juice. He ate quickly without caring how undignified he might look. He was scared Melvin would take it away from him.

But Melvin only watched, waiting, wearing that faintly amused expression. When Marik finally looked up, licking juice off his fingers, Melvin said, "Are you ready to pay attention?"

The bronze hikari rubbed his hands on his lap and said nothing.

Melvin spent a few moments eyeing the pale hikari. "Princess?" He finally said. "What do you think of the rabbit?"

Marik blinked and looked at the other end of the line. "Ryou?" He asked uncertainly. "Um... I don't know..."

"He looks a lot like _him_ , doesn't he? A little softer around the edges, but..."

"They did share the same body," Marik pointed out in a low voice.

"And you liked that body," Melvin responded. "Don't pretend you didn't. I know. So what do you think of the weaker Bakura?"

Ryou kept his face carefully blank and his eyes on Melvin's feet. Yugi kept his head down, but his eyes darted nervously between the three individuals around him.

"His attitude is different. It makes his face different," Marik answered noncommittally.

Melvin nudged Ryou with his foot. "Make a Ring Spirit face."

Given the overall topic of the conversation, Ryou was happy for an excuse to scowl at his captor, even if the only response he got was a laugh.

"This is how the game is going to work," Melvin finally explained. "The tartlet gets a pass because he needs to eat anyway. Besides, you two are much better at following directions. I'm sure your attempts to win will be much more interesting. Chibi pharaoh will blow me. Chibi thief..."

Marik's eyes widened.

"...will blow the princess. The conditions for winning should be obvious, so let's just get on with it." He hooked two fingers through the ring on Marik's collar and pulled him to his feet. Gripping Marik's waist wrap with one hand, he used the other to shove Marik back against the edge of the table.

Marik stumbled and caught himself, suddenly naked. He knew Ryou wouldn't, couldn't, say no. Marik cringed. They'd repressed a lot of their differences out of necessity the last few days. Neither of them needed to have it forced into the open like this.

Ryou wasn't going to say no, but compliance was a struggle this time. Submitting to Melvin didn't matter. Being physical with Marik, even or especially by force, was a major complication. He crawled up to Marik anyway. Tried keeping his eyes below his waist and pretending he was Melvin, to see if it would help. As he raised a hand to touch him, however, Marik gasped and flinched back.

"You really need to work on your gratitude, little thing," Melvin hissed. "I gave you your favorite, didn't I?"

The bronze hikari gripped the table as he felt a hand grip his shaft. He stared at the light fingers against his dark skin. A hand exactly like Bakura's, with a touch entirely unlike Bakura's. He squeezed his eyes shut. "Thank you," he forced out. He heard Melvin chuckle as he felt a warm mouth close over him. The tan chest lurched. Ryou obviously wasn't as skilled or creative as Marik always fantasized Bakura would be, but his efforts definitely didn't feel bad. Aside from the sadness and subsequent guilt of wishing there was a different albino down there...

Yugi tried to focus on undressing and pleasuring Melvin, but his mind wandered frantically. Twice now, in just about a week, he'd used them to harm each other. Melvin's abuse was one thing. The three prisoners still had to look each other in the eyes after he left. Food, companionship... He was weaponizing their only comforts. As Yugi nosed into Melvin's pubic hair for the third... fourth... time...? He wondered what the next escalation would be. Melvin loved reminding them that things could be worse.

"You are getting so good at this, chibi," Melvin purred. "I'll have that gag reflex fucked right out of you in no time."

Ryou heard the hitch in Marik's breathing and hazarded a peek at his face. He was hard in Ryou's mouth, but he looked like he was holding back tears. Like he was lost in a hopeless dream. As much as Ryou hated the Spirit, he almost pitied Marik. Marik's demon was trying to destroy this... thing. This... fantasy... that the bronze hikari held dear. Then he realized he had the power to do something good for Marik, and their tyrant of a god couldn't beat him for it because he was just playing the game.

The grip on Marik's cock tightened. Marik opened his eyes and found himself staring straight into Ryou's. The pale hikari leered coyly, boldly maintaining eye contact as he sucked one of Marik's balls into his mouth. The boldness startled him. It was a very Bakura thing to do. On his knees, unashamed, still wielding all the control. Marik let out a startled moan as the albino redoubled his efforts. Bakura... If he blurred his focus and concentrated on his fantasy, he could almost see Bakura... He moaned softly, pressing the back of his hand to his mouth to stifle the sound. He didn't want Melvin to notice and ruin it.

Ryou put his hands on Marik's hips, holding the glazed lavender gaze as he sucked and stroked with his lips. Eventually, with another swallowed moan, Marik's jizz glazed his tongue. Ryou sat back on his heels and wrinkled his nose. He floundered for a minute and then spit into his palm. A low chuckle drew his attention to Melvin.

"Two in a row," Melvin leered. "You're on a roll, rabbit." When Yugi drew back to look sideways at the other two hikaris, Melvin yanked Yugi's hair and forced his cock into Yugi's throat. "I didn't say stop," he hissed as he watched Yugi choke and struggle. Still holding Yugi in place, he addressed Ryou. "Eat quickly. It's going to be bath time soon."

Ryou wiped Marik's cum on his thigh and pulled out the first piece of fruit his hand closed around. A pear that he scarfed down as Melvin hammered Yugi's throat as hard and fast as leverage would allow.

When it was over, Yugi collapsed to his hands and knees gasping to fill his lungs. The air grated in his abused throat and cum drooled from his mouth.

###

Things were quiet most of the next day. Ryou and Marik didn't know what to say to each other. Marik fumbled out half of an apology that Ryou interrupted with a rushed acceptance and dismissal, and then two spent the rest of the day awkwardly avoiding each other. Yugi tried to fill the silence and keep things together, but after Melvin's especially rough treatment he couldn't say more than a couple words before the pain became unbearable.

###

Melvin returned wearing his usual smug expression. The hikaris lined up on their knees in front of him, trembling like puppies waiting to be kicked. Something particularly dark and excited glimmered in the violet eyes.

"Hm..." Melvin reflected, rolling the Rod between his fingers. "Let's start with a quick game of Melvin Says. Melvin says... raise your hand if you're scared."

Yugi's hand went up. Ryou's followed a second or two behind.

"Really?" Melvin chuckled. "All right. Melvin says... raise your hand if I've already raped your sorry little ass."

The three of them shared a nervous gulp as Ryou and Yugi raised trembling hands into the air.

"So let's try this again. Melvin says raise your hand if. You're. Scared."

This time Marik joined the other two.

Melvin laughed. "That's what I thought. Last question. Melvin says... raise your hand..." He grinned, watching Marik sideways. "If I'm _about_ to rape your sorry little ass."

There was a much longer pause. Ryou and Yugi peeked sideways at Marik, eyes wide. Breathing heavily, Marik raised his hand ever so slowly.

"Mhm," Melvin purred. "Now stand up and bend over the table."

When Marik took too long to get his feet under him, the madman grabbed his neck and pulled. Then he shoved the bronze hikari face-first onto the table. The larger body leaned over him as Melvin clipped chains to the cuffs on Marik's wrists.

The violet glare turned on the others. "Pale thing. Go get some oil from the bath cabinet. It doesn't matter which one."

Ryou bit his lip, but he hopped up to obey.

"Chibi. Fasten his ankles to the table legs."

With the nauseating anxiety already rising, Yugi pulled Marik's legs open and secured him as Melvin directed. By that time, Ryou returned with a flask of oil.

Melvin discarded his shendyt as he spoke. "Oil my cock," he commanded Ryou. Once he had the pale hikari kneeling in front of him, he commanded Yugi to undress Marik.

Spread eagle and bent at the waist, Marik set his jaw. He couldn't fight Melvin off. He thought about refusing to cry out, but Melvin's threats about being 'boring' rang in his ears. The madman stepped up behind him. A palm landed at the base of Marik's spine, ran up his back, and then fingers tightened in his hair.

"You're probably wondering why I chained you and not the others," Melvin said. "It's for your own safety, really. What I'm about to do is very delicate. It would be a shame if I slipped and caused permanent nerve damage." He released Marik's head and unsheathed the Rod. "I know you have a tendency to space out during these sorts of things, so we're going to play a simple, little game to keep you focused."

Marik's eyes went round with horrified realization. He struggled in his bonds.

"I want you to count my thrusts, out loud, as I fuck you. Just to make sure you're still with me."

"No, no, no..." Marik whimpered.

"Don't worry, tartlet. I'll go slow, to make it easy."

Marik shuddered as Melvin penetrated him with a single, steady stroke. "Please, no... Not again..."

"That was one, princess. Say it."

Marik's shoulders hitched as he pressed his face to the table.

"Say it! Or I'll put you in the dark!"

"O-one..." Marik whimpered.

Melvin repeated the motion.

"Two..."

"Good princess." He kept up the slow, smooth strokes as he contemplated the scarred, scabbed canvas in front of him. Some of the lash marks had begun to heal, but all they did was slightly mar the image beneath. "If I do this all at once, you'll lose too much blood. We'll have to do it in pieces. Let's start with... Slifer."

Tears pricked the corners of Marik's eyes when he felt the sharp chill on his flesh. "Six..." he whispered. Then he screamed as the blade carved under his skin.

"The numbers," Melvin reminded with a musical lilt.

Marik's mind raced. "Se... Seven?" Had this been what Odion felt? He was sure Melvin would've at least tried to keep Odion alive when he... "Eight! Oh gods!"

"There's only one god that matters now," Melvin hissed, peeling back the paper thin bit of skin as the razor sharp Item sliced incrementally through the tissue underneath. Once he finally had it free, he pressed deep into Marik's ass and leaned over him, dangling his prize between two fingers. "See? Only two left."

Marik sobbed and turned his face away. His blood. That was a lot of his blood.

"What do you say?" Melvin purred.

"Th- tha..." Marik shuddered. "Thank you..."

Beaming with delight, Melvin straightened up and looked at the pair of hikaris behind him, kneeling dutifully in position without even being asked. "Here's your god card, chibi pharaoh," Melvin teased.

The blood made a wet, smacking sound on the floor as the piece of Marik's tableau landed inches from Yugi's knees. The short hikari moaned, but he didn't dare move from his spot.

Melvin laughed. "Let's do Obelisk next. I want to save Ra for last..."

Marik continued screaming out numbers as Melvin continued carving away at his back. The bronze hikari's voice was already rough and raw by the time Obelisk joined Slifer. It was a wonder that his sick doppelganger could even understand the numbers at all by the time all three of the tattered gods had collected on the floor.

Bracing his hands on the table, Melvin fucked Marik faster. The bronze hikari stopped counting in favor of weeping uncontrollably. "We're going to have to let those heal for now, but don't you worry," Melvin breathed. "I'll help you get ride of _all_ those nasty marks eventually."

"Thank you..." Marik whimpered without prompt.

The response delighted Melvin. He pounded his former host hard enough to shake the table. Chains clanked and jingled. The madman panted like a dog, lolling tongue and all. Lustful growls mingled with pitiful sobs until Melvin announced his orgasm with a gasped, stuttering cackle.

Marik squirmed in the chains as he felt the invasion withdraw. His joints were sore from struggling. His pelvis was probably bruised from being rammed repeatedly against the edge of the table. It was nothing compared to the wet, sticky, fire consuming his back, though.

Melvin surveyed his toys, a truly happy smile gracing his lips. Each of them, exactly as broken in as he wanted. The possibilities moving forward were as endless as they were exciting.


	8. Chapter 8

Yugi sat on his knees, stroking Marik's hair as he cried. "Sh..." he whispered, trying to be comforting. "Sh..." He glanced at Melvin and Ryou in the bath. Melvin gripped the albino's throat as Ryou washed him. Yugi couldn't do anything for him. He couldn't do much for Marik, either, really. Melvin hadn't unchained him. Probably wasn't going to.

When Ryou finished drying and dressing Melvin, the madman returned to the table. He loomed over the two hikaris as they cowered in his shadow. Yugi fully expected punishment for trying to comfort Marik. But Melvin was staring at the bronze hikari. He ran a finger through the blood streaking Marik's back, brought it to his lips, and licked it. Yugi shuddered and stared at the floor as Melvin left.

Ryou used his feet to feel around the bottom of the basin until he found what he was looking for. He picked up the bar of soap he'd hidden under the water while Melvin had been distracted by Yugi chaining up Marik. "Yugi!" He held it aloft, grinning.

The short hikari and the pale hikari washed all three of the waist wraps vigorously. Ryou was still being really quiet, his face set in a soft frown. Yugi swallowed, testing his bruised esophagus. "It's not your fault," he started, his voice still a little rough. "It's better than what he would've done if you hadn't..." Yugi's cheeks turned pink.

Ryou shook his head. "It's not that. I..." He gritted his teeth and lowered his voice. "I hate the Spirit. I'm glad he's gone. He kept me isolated and helpless for... so long." He sighed, his voice softening. "Marik misses him so much. I used to think Marik was as bad as the Spirit. It was simple to dislike both of them. Lately I've started to wonder..."

Yugi waited for him to continue, and then finally asked, "What?"

Ryou smiled wryly. "I'm sorry... I'm not sure I should tell you. If you'll pardon the candor, you don't have a very good poker face." He shrugged. "I'll tell you if Marik asks. Is that fair?"

Yugi eyed him. Concerned.

"It's nothing important," Ryou assured. "I just don't want to hurt him."

Yugi made a tiny sound to acknowledge Ryou's words. "Let's see what we can do to make him comfortable. There's no telling how long Melvin's going to leave him like that."

Ryou cleaned Marik's wounds while Yugi massaged the circulation back into his hands. They were afraid to do anything that Melvin might punish them for, but Yugi finally decided to slip a pillow under Marik's bruised pelvis to cushion the edge of the table.

###

Yugi and Ryou cringed as they knelt on the floor. Melvin hadn't paid much attention to Marik, not even to unchain him. Not even to chastise them for trying to make Marik comfortable. He was here for one of the other two. To play. Time stretched out as they waited for him to do or say something.

"Are you crying already?" Melvin asked.

Yugi bit his lip. Was he? Apparently he was.

"I haven't even touched you yet, chibi," Melvin teased. "Come to think of it, I've barely touched you at all."

Yugi looked up at him. At least it wouldn't be the others. The thought gave him much less comfort than it would have a week ago, though. Had it really only been a week? Such a small drop in the bucket that would be the rest of his life. The tears standing in his eyes thickened. A hand grabbed his neck and drew him to his feet. He found himself trapped by the violet eyes as Melvin nudged him backward toward the torture room.

His chest heaved as curtains parted around him. Melvin wasn't even squeezing, but he couldn't breathe. Alone. No Ryou. No Marik. Alone. Just him and the sadist and the chains and whatever else was in that cabinet.

Melvin stood him next to the ring in the floor. The hand shifted to his shoulder and applied a light pressure. Yugi sank to his knees immediately. Melvin laughed. "Could you be any more terrified? I can't wait to find out."

The others. Yugi closed his eyes and tried to think of the others as Melvin leashed him to the floor. All he could think of was the whip splitting Marik's skin. Minutes passed. Then he sensed rather than saw Melvin standing next to him. The madman rattled something next to his ear. Cringing away from the sound, Yugi opened one eye. A little metal box. Gold like everything else. Couldn't have been longer than two inches.

A light touch tilted the short hikari's chin upward as Melvin stood in front of him. Once he was sure he had Yugi's attention, he opened the box and pulled out a pin. "You know what really tickles me?" He grinned. "As soon as I tell you to stick out your tongue, you're going to know exactly what-" Melvin laughed as Yugi's expression changed. "Yes. Like that. You know exactly what I'm going to do. But you know what? You're going to stick out your tongue anyway, because I control your life now." He licked his lips. "So go on, hikari. Stick out your tongue for your god."

Crying freely, barely aware of it, Yugi obeyed. Fingers pulled at the tip of the slick muscle. He couldn't watch, but he felt the needle prick his tongue. He moaned and shuddered as it penetrated. His instincts screamed at him to pull away, but Melvin pinched harder. The fingers didn't release him until the needle popped out the other side. His tongue remained hanging in the air. He couldn't pull the needle into his mouth.

"There we go." The box rattled again. "Let's see if we can't find homes for the rest of these." He kicked Yugi onto his back and straddled his waist.

Fingers pinched and pulled at the pink nubs on Yugi's chest. He turned his head away, closing his eyes. Waiting for the inevitable. He still twitched when he felt the first prick. The first penetration. The needle sliding sideways through his nipple. The other received the same treatment. Cruel fingers flicked each one in turn. Yugi squealed.

Something halfway between a purr and a growl rumbled in the madman's chest. "Are you going to scream for me, chibi?" He grabbed Yugi's pointer finger, forcing the rest of his hand into a fist. "Are you going to beg?" The point of a needle played along the space under Yugi's nail.

Yugi's eyes flew open wide. He shook his head and whimpered, even though he didn't bother struggling. "Peeth," he begged as best he could around his protruding tongue. "Peethpeethpeeth!" Then he screamed incoherently as the pin burrowed into the quick.

Melvin sighed ecstatically. "That was beautiful, chibi," he murmured, eyes alight. "Let's do that again." He shift his grip to Yugi's middle finger.

"Mo..." Yugi whined. "Peeth... om..." Another scream evacuated his lungs as fire ripped through the tip of his finger.

"Oh, yes!" Melvin crowed. "With ten little fingers and ten little toes, I'll have music wherever the pins go..."

Yugi wailed hopelessly as two more fingers succumbed to the torture. Then, finally, like a miracle, Melvin stopped and trapped Yugi's wrist against the floor. He licked his teeth as he hunched over the smaller form. Yugi could feel his arousal through the thin layers of cloth separating them. Of course. Of course he was turned on. And he wasn't going to pull the needle from Yugi's tongue, which meant one thing. Yugi shuddered as Melvin stripped him.

"Put your ass in the air in the air and spread your legs."

Almost over. It was almost over. Yugi assumed the position. Melvin pulled one of the short hikari's butt cheeks aside. Yugi flushed, but the penetration he expected wasn't the penetration he felt. Small. Sharp. Piercing through the skin and muscle around his asshole. Pins. Melvin made a slow, careful ring of pins around his back entrance. Yugi mewled, trying not to squirm or throw up. Then Melvin let go of the cheek he'd been holding back, and Yugi did cry out as the pins shifted.

"On your back."

 _No, no, no..._

"Roll. Over."

Melvin pushed him, causing another twinge of pain. He couldn't think. Maybe he was still crying. His vision was blurry. Maybe he was still breathing. He hadn't passed out. But he couldn't think. He could only stare at his tormentor as he held another pin up to the light. A hand took him by the cock.

Melvin scratched the pin up the underside of Yugi's member. He leaned closer, studying the wet, red face. "What is that? Abject Terror with a hint of..." he tilted his head, "Pained Helplessness? Hm..."

He slipped pins sideways through Yugi's foreskin, making neat lines down four sides of his shaft. At some point, each individual prick stopped mattering. At some point, his abused cock just _hurt_. It was only then that Melvin pushed Yugi's knees up and out. It was only then that Melvin slowly removed just the pins around his anus. Then Melvin was rutting away at the tortured hole, with only spit to ease his passage.

Every gasp. Every buck. Every whimper. The mad god relished them all.

Yugi closed his eyes to block out the twisted ecstasy that contorted Melvin's face when he orgasmed. The feral pants and growls were bad enough. Well he pulled out, something thick and wet oozed out after him. The short hikari lay limp, sweaty, and staring blankly at the forest of chains dangling above him. Only moving enough to flinch every time Melvin removed a pin.

When Melvin finally got to the pins under Yugi's nails, he pulled them slowly, watching blood fill into the space they left behind. "I may prefer the way the rabbit bleeds," Melvin murmured, "but I'm going to love finding ways to make you squeal."


	9. Chapter 9

Ryou sat on a couch with his knees hugged to his chest. His eyes were distant and wide. Yugi's screams... just... Yugi's screams... It was equally unsettling when they tapered off to a long silence. As the curtain twitched aside, Ryou sat up straight. His eyes locked on Melvin's every move. Melvin would want a bath, and he'd use the opportunity to squeeze and pinch until Ryou's thighs were decorated with little bruises. His butt was still stained with dark marks from the day Marik stabbed Melvin. So he watched apprehensively as Melvin paused next to Marik's bound form.

Marik pressed his face against the table, shuddering. His shoulders ached. His hips ached. His wrists and ankles were chaffed and bruised. The skin on his back felt tight and itchy. But none of those things were the reason he was about to cry.

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice what you did?" Melvin asked, his tone smooth and leading.

Marik flinched. He had. When Melvin hadn't immediately said anything, he'd hoped he could keep his head down and wait for their tormentor to leave.

"To think, I'd thought about letting you go," Melvin sighed melodramatically. "Honestly, it's like you were raised in a hole in the ground."

Marik hated that Melvin knew exactly what buttons to press. Hated it. "You didn't exactly give me a choice," he whispered, as though keeping his voice low would soften any retaliation for being sassy.

Melvin chuckled. "Either way," he pulled the wet pillow out from under Marik's pelvis, "I'm going to punish you for it." He lifted Marik's head, and then slid the pillow into place where it had just been.

Marik cringed, struggling to keep his head and chest lifted when Melvin let go.

"Don't even think about asking your little roommates to help you," Melvin purred. "This isn't the worst thing you deserve. You're just lucky chibi left me in a good mood."

Ryou stood as soon as Melvin started moving toward him. He waited for Melvin to grab his arm and drag him to the bath, though. Melvin liked grabbing and dragging him. Ryou undressed Melvin quietly, jewelry and all, and then waited for him to get into the bath before undressing himself. He selected a rose oil and a sandalwood soap from the cabinet, and the climbed into Melvin's lap. Hands immediately settled on Ryou's thighs. Ryou cringed, but for now they simply stayed where they were, firm and threatening.

Ryou always saved washing Melvin's back for last. He hated the way he had to lean forward and practically embrace the madman to reach it. So many reasons he'd rather not sit in Melvin's lap.

"I'm going to rape you tomorrow," Melvin suddenly whispered in his ear.

Ryou gritted his teeth. He didn't know what to say. Of course, Melvin didn't need a response.

"I've already thought of the perfect bit of foreplay," Melvin said.

Ryou finished rinsing the muscular back quickly and sat back. He didn't try to stand up, but Melvin's nails dug into his thighs anyway.

"I wonder if you can scream as loud as your little friend."

Ryou fidgeted, avoiding eye contact. Hands glided to his waist. Ryou trembled. Even braced for the pain, he still gasped and twitched away when he felt the first pinch. Melvin chuckled as he pinched Ryou's hip, causing him to flinch the other way. Then both hips at once. Then his belly. Then his thighs. The pale hikari squirmed in Melvin's lap, hoping he'd had his fill already and wouldn't get turned on by Ryou's involuntary rubbing against his pelvis.

Eventually Melvin's laughter trailed off into a broad grin and a few stray snickers. His hands came to a stop at Ryou's knees. "Dry me off."

Ryou scrambled to the cabinet again as Melvin pushed himself up to sit on the edge of the tub. Ryou knelt behind him and toweled him off obediently. Next he rubbed the oil into Melvin's arms and torso, and then finally dressed him. Melvin gave Ryou one last pinch on the rear before he left.

Ryou hadn't heard the entire exchange between Melvin and Marik, but he could see Marik awkwardly bracing his hands against the table as he struggled to keep his head and chest up. "Marik-"

"Stay away," Marik snapped. Maybe the others didn't know what had happened yet. Maybe if he held out long enough, Melvin would let him go before they noticed.

"But I-"

"Go talk to Yugi or something! Leave me alone!" His voice cracked. His back hurt and his stomach hurt and his head hurt, and gods, his father had always gotten so angry when he wet the bed because he was too afraid to get up in the dark and he couldn't handle them seeing him like this... "Please leave me alone... I just want to be left alone..."

Ryou tugged at his hair. He knew he couldn't do anything to help, but he felt so bad for Marik. Knowing what he knew about the Ring Spirit... But Yugi still hadn't come out of the torture room, either. They both needed someone. Yugi probably actually wanted someone. Ryou went to sit with him instead.

###

When Melvin finally returned at food time, carrying a covered metal platter, Marik was staring into space with his chin on the pillow. Melvin flashed him a grin before turning to watch the other two scramble to their places on the floor. He stood in front of Ryou.

"Stand up and bend over."

Ryou got to his feet. Since Melvin hadn't given him any other instructions, he slowly bowed at the waist, twisting his head to watch Melvin's expression to make sure he was doing it right.

"Hold this." Melvin set the tray on Ryou's back, and then turned to Marik.

Ryou braced his hands on his knees, keeping his back as flat as possible. The platter was surprisingly heavy and warm. His stomach grumbled as he wondered what Melvin had brought this time.

Melvin leaned over to make eye contact with Marik. "How are you doing, princess?"

Marik bit back his first response, and after further consideration, his second response as well. Snapping at Melvin wouldn't help. "Uncomfortable," he said.

Melvin laughed and tilted his head. "Only uncomfortable? Hm..."

Suddenly worried that he'd said the wrong thing, Marik added, "I'm starving."

Melvin nodded and straightened up. "I'm sure. I'm sure you're all starving. Well, maybe not the rabbit." As he spoke, he moved around the table, releasing Marik's limbs. "But you don't need any extra motivation to be good, do you?" Melvin pinched Ryou's cheek.

Marik whimpered in relief as his body sagged to the floor.

Ryou relaxed when Melvin lifted the tray from his back and set it on the table.

"Because that's what we're doing tonight. It's been a week, and I want to see how well you can obey your god. If there are any areas that need improvement." He stood on the other side of the table and lifted the lid.

The hikaris' eyes widened. A whole roasted chicken, nestled in a pile of potatoes, carrots, and onions. Melvin let them take it in for a while before continuing. "All you have to do his follow my instructions, and I will leave this here for all of you to enjoy at your leisure. Any questions?"

They looked at each other, and then one by one shook their heads.

"Then let's begin. Kneel and face each other."

They warily arranged themselves in a circle. Marik was glad he didn't have to stand. He didn't think he could.

"Get up on your knees and undress."

Yugi's stomach churned. He was going to make them do something to each other again.

"Now take a good, long look."

Their eyes flitted nervously from person to person, never landing anywhere for long. They were all skinny and exhausted.

"I want you to think about everything I've done to you. Everything I can do to you. Everything I might do to you."

Marik's nails were still a cracked, broken mess. Yugi and Ryou's arms were decorated with long, thin scabs. All of them were bruised in one way or another.

"Now all of you turn to your right."

They obeyed, hearts thudding as they waited for the difficult thing to start. There was always a difficult thing.

"Suck on your fingers."

Marik's back was covered in cracked, weeping scabs. Even Ryou's back still bore the remnants of Melvin's first act of violence against them. Back when rape was the worst thing Yugi could imagine. After what Melvin had done to Tea, Odion, and Marik, Yugi realized the true limits of Melvin's cruelties were beyond his ability to conceptualize. He didn't want to know the limits. He was terrified that some day he would find out anyway.

"Now stick two fingers up the butt in front of you."

Yugi froze, staring at Ryou's back.

Marik glared at Melvin.

Ryou eyed the chicken.

Yugi didn't want to know the worst that Melvin could do. He couldn't take it.

Ryou gasped and hunched his shoulders.

"I'm sorry," Yugi whispered.

Ryou already knew he had to do it. They needed the food. They couldn't go much longer on a piece of fruit here and there. He only wished he didn't have to do it to Marik. With a deep breath, he slipped his slick fingers between the tan cheeks.

Marik blushed hard. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could go wash his face. It would be a little easier if it was Ryou, though, so he could pretend it was Bakura. Marik closed his eyes, and then closed the circle.

Melvin laughed and clapped his hands. "Yes!" He went around the circle, personally checking that each one had done what he'd said. "Look at all my good little hikaris." He took his time standing up and leaning against the table. "We can stop there, for now. The food is yours." He winked at Ryou, and then left them to their own devices.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: I tried to upload this earlier, but the formatting was really screwed up. Hope it works this time.**

Marik stuffed the offending pillow into the void of the toilet, and then hunched at the wall fountain scrubbing his face until a dull sting told him he should probably stop. By the time he finished blotting his face dry on his waist wrap and emerged from the bathroom, the other two hikaris had washed up, placed the platter on the floor, and arranged their nest of pillows in a semi-circle around it. Marik stumbled over and dropped onto a pillow next to Yugi.

"There are only two drumsticks..." Yugi let the implied question hang in the air.

Marik stared at the bird as Ryou delicately peeled three portions of meat from the bones. Meat white like Ryou's fingers. Marik wasn't used to eating meat. It didn't keep well in the tomb. No refrigeration. He'd tried a bite of burger after he'd left the tomb and the feel of chewing cooked flesh had just... put him off. Melvin knew all of that. Now here it was. Their first real meal in a week. Primarily chicken. He must've known Marik would be conflicted. "You two can have them." He shoved a carrot and a potato into his mouth as he tried to work up the courage to try the chicken.

Once granted permission, Yugi and Ryou dropped the patient politeness. They each ripped off a drumstick and tore half the flesh from the bone in one bite. The first bites hit their respective stomachs, radiating relief. With the immediate discomfort abated, they chewed their second bites more slowly.

For a while there were only the sounds of eating. Marik focused on psyching himself up. Ryou and Yugi focused on sucking every edible fragment from the bones in their hands. The food left a strange feeling in the pit of Yugi's stomach, after being so empty for so long. He paused to let it settle. Slowly, the others paused as well, staring blankly at the ground.

The silence between them was thick. Poisonous. They were all trying not to think about the same thing. Melvin's parting words. 'We can stop there for now.' For now. Yugi sniffled and took a deep breath.

Ryou looked at him sideways.

Yugi bit his lip to stop it from trembling. It didn't work. "I don't want..." Yugi struggled with the words. "To never speak again..."

"Why would we stop speaking to each other?" Ryou asked.

"Because things always get all quiet after he... and he's going to..." Yugi's voice cracked. "He's not going to stop. He's going to keep..."

Ryou glanced at Marik, who still hadn't looked at either of them. The silence with Marik was different, but he wasn't sure if now was the time to talk about it. "We'll be fine, Yugi," Ryou whispered.

The tears spilled over. "You keep saying that, but we won't. It's going to be this! Forever! Until he gets bored and decides to- to- I don't know cut off our hands or- or something..."

Marik's voice was dull. "He wouldn't cut off our hands," he murmured as he shoved another carrot into his mouth. "We need our hands to be entertaining. He'd cut off something boring. Like an ear."

"Marik," Ryou chastised.

Marik didn't respond. It was true. Not talking about it didn't make it any less true. He was just surprised to hear Yugi of all people bring it up.

Ryou glanced back and forth between them. Marik's exhausted distance. Yugi's shaking shoulders. He'd be lying to himself if he didn't admit that losing the almost impossibly optimistic Yugi to the hopelessness shook him. "Yugi, no matter what he makes us do to each other, I promise I will never stop talking to you." He paused. "I'll tell another story. Um... Okay, so the movie starts with a point of view shot moving around the outside of a two story house in a nice neighborhood. It's night time and all of the windows are lit up. The point of view looks through one of the windows, watching a young woman and a young man giggling together..."

As Ryou went on describing the opening for Halloween to the best of his recollection, Yugi's sobs calmed to soft sniffles. Marik barely reacted at all until Ryou mentioned the title screen. As the story went on, he found himself more interested in the background details of the holiday itself than the plight of the main characters.

He'd never even heard of the holiday until he was twelve or thirteen. Even then, he'd had far too many things on his mind to think about it much. Running the Ghouls, looking for the Puzzle, getting revenge. It saddened him to think of all the things he'd never get to try, now. All the things he could've used his freedom for instead.

"Did you ever go trick or treating?" Marik asked when Ryou's story was over.

"A few times." Ryou picked at a loose thread on a nearby pillow. "When I was much younger. After my my mum and sister died, father wanted to move back to Japan, so... I mean, it wouldn't have been the same without Amane, anyway..." And there was always the Ring, but he never felt comfortable talking about that in front of Marik. Marik who had such a different idea of the Spirit than Ryou did.

"Oh." Marik fell silent. He didn't want to talk about dead family members. None of them did.

"It's strange," Ryou continued in a lower voice. "I'm sort of glad they got out in time to miss..." he gestured vaguely, "this. Is that weird?"

"No," Marik shook his head. "It's not weird."

###

They all woke up to a sudden shock of pain. Realizing that Melvin had entered the room, and woken them up with their collars, they all disentangled from their sleeping puddle to line up at his feet.

"Sleeping comfortably with your full bellies, my little things?" Melvin purred.

Ryou hesitated as he wondered if he should say 'yes' or 'no.'

Marik piped up with a low, "Thank you for feeding us."

Maybe Marik could be better at this than Ryou thought.

Melvin focused on Marik and grinned. "Listen to you, princess. Falling in line. If I didn't already have plans today, I'd make you show me how grateful you are." He turned his grin on Ryou. "But _you_ already know who I'm here for. Stay down and follow me, my pretty little pale thing. I'm going to put some color on you."

He turned and headed toward the torture room. Ryou crawled after him, trying to control his fear. Yugi's screams filled his thoughts. He'd never found out exactly what Melvin had done to Yugi. The short hikari hadn't exactly wanted to talk about it, and Ryou hadn't forced him to, but remembering those screams terrified him even more now that he would be the one screaming.

Melvin stopped in the middle of the room and looked down at Ryou. "Get up on your knees and put your arms out."

Once Ryou was in position, Melvin moved around him attaching chains to each of the five D-rings on Ryou's person.

"Have you ever been free?" Melvin asked. "Or have you been a puppet your whole life?"

"I was eight years old the first time I put on the Ring," Ryou answered. It was a vague answer, but he didn't feel like discussing the intracies of his relationship with the Spirit. Not with Melvin.

"So you do know what freedom tastes like." Melvin drew the Rod from his belt. "Good. This wouldn't be quite so much fun if you didn't know what you were missing."

The Rod glowed. The chains attached to Ryou's neck and wrists retracted into the ceiling, drawing him up on his toes with his arms spread in a Y above his head. The chain at this neck stopped just short of choking him.

Melvin wore the same hungry leer he'd had the first time he raped Ryou. "Look at you, puppet." He pulled the cloth from Ryou's waist with a flourish, revealing the universe of bruises decorating his thighs, butt, and stomach. "I'm going to make you dance on your strings." He giggled as he unsheathed the Rod.

Ryou flinched as the blade poked into the middle of a bruise. Then he cried out as the metal parted his skin in a short, precise line, connecting the first bruise to a second. A drop of blood tickled his thigh. Melvin connected the second bruise to a third, and the third to a forth, tracing red constellations between blue and purple stars. Ryou's breath wheezed as he tried to balance on one foot, instinctively squirming to escape the blade.

Melvin attacked him from alternating sides, laughing as he wiggled and twitched back and forth. His eyes followed the bloody rivulets as they crept across Ryou's flesh, intersecting and feeding off of each new slice. Once he'd finished Ryou's outer thighs and bum, the Rod glowed again. The chain attached to one of Ryou's ankles forced him into an arched arabesque.

Ryou coughed as the pressure on his neck shifted. He held as much of his weight as he could on his arms and lifted leg. His muscles quivered in protest. When Melvin began carving slow, careful constellations on his inner thighs, he couldn't pull away at all. His eyes watered steady streams, but his breathing was too uneven to sob properly.

Melvin paused to run a finger up the flat side of the gory blade. "A funny thought occurs to me." He smeared Ryou's blood between his thumb and index finger. "The chibi begged me to stop when I tortured him. I'm sure he knew it was useless, but that didn't stop him from trying." He looked at Ryou's face. "You don't even try."

Ryou blinked. What response did Melvin want? The flat tone didn't tell him if the observation was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Oh, don't get me wrong. You make all kinds of fun and pretty noises. It's just... interesting."

The pale hikari swallowed awkwardly past the pressure on his neck. "Can't..." he wheezed. "Speak..."

"Neither could he," Melvin smirked. "But you would beg if you could?"

"What... you want..."

"Mm. What I want..." Melvin grabbed the chain at the nape of Ryou's neck and pulled.

The hard edges of the collar dug into Ryou's jaw and throat. He gagged as his tongue lolled out. His fists scrabbled at the chains attached to his wrists, trying to lift himself up enough to breathe. Melvin merely responded to his efforts by pulling harder. Ryou felt his face go warm and tingly. His vision started to swim. Then Melvin let go and the chains jerked at Ryou's shoulder joints as he resettled. Swinging slightly. Wheezing. Coughing.

Melvin moved around behind him. Fingers smeared red nebulae and galaxies on Ryou's sticky flesh. "I don't think you would beg if you could speak. Not if I didn't tell you to."

A hand stroked up the inside of Ryou's thigh. It rubbed over his balls as a thumb slipped into his ass.

"You've always been at the mercy of the whims of the people around you, and you've never complained. Am I wrong?"

Ryou's eyes were wide. "No," he rasped.

Melvin cackled. "Now that's funny. Even if that answer wasn't true, it would be true, because it would mean you'd never dare to tell me I'm wrong."

Ryou's heart pounded. He didn't understand where Melvin was going with this. He didn't understand what Melvin wanted. He sniffled as fresh tears rolled down his cheeks. Melvin's dangerous grin brushed against his ear, all eager teeth.

"Why are you crying, puppet?" Melvin hissed in a way that sounded like he already knew.

"Don't know... what you want..."

The chains shifted again, pulling both of Ryou's feet to an even level with his hands. The tension on his neck slackened, but the new position was awful on his shoulders and hips.

Melvin removed his shendyt and stood between Ryou's lacerated thighs. "It's about what I don't want, puppet." Cruel hands spread Ryou's bleeding cheeks. "I don't want to hear a single peep out of you. Not a yelp. Not a whimper. If I do hear a sound, I will show you something to yelp and whimper about."

Ryou took fast, shallow breaths as he tried not to sob. When Melvin crammed his cock into him, Ryou had to grit his teeth and shake his head until his neck hurt to keep from crying out. He wished he had something to bite or squeeze or pound his fists and head against, but all he could do was clench his fists until his nails dug into his palms.

The monster remained surprisingly quiet as he reamed out the pale hikari. Lest Ryou sneak a noise past him somehow. The only sounds were the jingling chains and the slapping of skin and the panting breaths. Ryou poured all of his energy into twisting and writhing, inhaling sharply to force back his screams. By the time Melvin finished, the pale hikari was a sticky, sweaty, bloody, exhausted mess.

Ryou went limp in the chains, muscles shuddering and twitching. He wanted down. He wanted down, and he might have begged for it, but he was too scared. Fortunately, Melvin decided to lower the pale hikari's feet to the ground on his own. Ryou's breath hitched when the semen trickling down his thigh stung the cuts.

The mad god stepped in front of him. Ryou's blood stained his hands and abdomen. "You've got quite the mess to clean up this time."

Ryou didn't answer, unsure if he was allowed to make sounds yet. Melvin never told him one way or the other, so Ryou remained silent. It was just the kind of trick Melvin would pull.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note: I don't know why this has been refusing to format correctly. If this chapter is still full of formatting codes after this attempt, bear with me. I'm working on it.**

Each cut was a thin line of fire. Ryou almost cried out as he lowered himself into the water. He opened his mouth, cringing, only stopping at the last second. He bit his lip and clenched his fists instead, until the cuts stopped stinging.

A wet hand brushed Ryou's hair away from his face and pushed his chin up. Melvin tilted his head as he eyed the pale hikari, and then laughed as realization lit up his eyes. He gripped Ryou's head in both hands. "You _are_ such a _good_ little thing." His grip tightened. Nails dug into Ryou's scalp as Melvin's palms squished his face. "I could just squeeze you until your bones crack." He giggled and shook Ryou's head before letting go.

Ryou took a breath to steady himself as he reached for the soap.

"You two!" Melvin suddenly barked, causing Ryou to jump.

Yugi and Marik looked over their shoulders. They'd been trying to keep a low profile, hoping Melvin would ignore them. The shocking state of Ryou's legs made Marik wonder what his own back looked like. Yugi hadn't come out even half as bloody...

"Come here," Melvin gestured with two fingers.

Exchanging nervous glances, the pair of hikaris made their way to the edge of the bath.

Melvin patted the surface of the water, grinning. "Come on."

They didn't even flinch when it came to being naked in front of each other any more. They did, however, feel rather nauseous and twitchy about joining Melvin in a large pool of water.

Melvin laced his fingers together at the base of Ryou's spine. "I want to play a game," he said. "No stakes. Just fun." He frowned and looked sideways at the ceiling. "Well, unless you _refuse_ of course. There are stakes if you refuse." He grinned at them again. "But I can't think of a reason any of my good little hikaris would do that. Can you?" He paused, eyes darting back and forth between them until they both shook their heads. "We're going to play the mirror game."

Yugi watched Melvin carefully. As he knew it, that was the game where you faced someone and copied their movements as though they were looking at a mirror. He had no idea what it meant for Melvin.

Melvin focused on Marik. "You sit against the side." His eyes shifted to Yugi. "You sit in his lap."

Yugi looked at Ryou, straddling Melvin's lap, quietly studying the surface of the water. The mirror game. He blushed as he straddled Marik, hovering just enough to avoid actual physical contact, but the idea seemed remarkably tame considering that Melvin had just spent three days torturing them with needles and knives. So did the masturbation game in hindsight. Maybe it wouldn't be a constant escalation until Melvin had to resort to cutting things off. Did Yugi even dare hope such a thing?

Ryou stared at his thighs. At the gory game of connect the dots that Melvin had planned at least a day in advance. Maybe he'd been thinking about it every time he poked and pinched Ryou in the bath. As impulsive as he often appeared to be, Melvin was capable of long term planning. Even if all he did today was make Yugi and Marik touch each other for several minutes, he'd been testing and pushing their boundaries for days. Maybe the terrible things he did weren't only random whims. Maybe he shocked them with terrible things so that something like forcing Ryou to give Marik a blow job seemed easy and safe.

Melvin poked one of Ryou's cuts, jolting the pale hikari out of his thoughts. Ryou gulped and rubbed the soap between his hands again. He started with Melvin's hands. Most of the blood had rinsed off, but there was still some in the creases of his palms. Ryou scrubbed at them with his thumbs, and Yugi copied the action on Marik. Usually he just started at Melvin's neck and worked his way down. This time, for Yugi's benefit, he worked his way up both arms first. Stalling.

Marik didn't want to watch Yugi's face, especially not as his hands moved to Marik's chest. It was awkward enough that he had to keep his hands on Yugi's hips. He didn't want to watch Melvin watching them either. He found himself watching Melvin's hands on Ryou's hips. Among all the things he'd been so disappointed he would miss, all the freedom he'd squandered, he suddenly realized there was one thing he hadn't missed. He knew what Bakura would've looked like naked.

Ryou was rubbing the bar of soap that never seemed to dissolve on Melvin's stomach when he heard Yugi choke back a startled sound.

Yugi tried to re-establish his pace with Ryou like he hadn't just noticed Marik's erection. He'd felt Marik go tense underneath him as he returned from his thoughts. But the sound already had Melvin's attention. Violet eyes bored into the short hikari.

Marik follow Melvin's hand as it left Ryou's thigh and lifted slowly out of the water. It hovered as Melvin caught Marik's gaze, daring him to disobey. As afraid as Marik was of what Melvin might be about to make him do, he was more afraid of resisting. If he resisted, the game would end, and they would be punished, and Melvin would definitely notice what Yugi had noticed and who knew what he would do with that...

When Melvin slapped Ryou, Marik slapped Yugi. He tried to do it as lightly as he could, but he felt horrible about it. Especially because the sound of Melvin's hand on Ryou's cheek had been loud enough for both of them. Ryou hadn't even broken any rules.

"Pay attention, chibi." Melvin's expression and voice were dangerously flat.

Yugi only barely stopped himself from nodding or apologizing when he realized Ryou hadn't done either. Melvin's eyes flicked back and forth between the pale hikari and the short hikari, both rubbing their respective cheeks. Then Melvin settled back against the wall and the game continued.

It had to be okay. It had to be. Ryou's hands made their way to Melvin's hips. It was easy when it was just himself. He tried to pretend it was just himself. But he heard Marik bite back a little sound as he rubbed the bar of soap on Melvin's cock and balls. Ryou shivered as he used his other hand to make sure there were no traces of soap. The hard part was almost done.

Melvin suddenly gripped Ryou's wrists and held his hands up by his shoulders. The pale hikari's eyes darted up to the mad god's face, and then followed the violet gaze to Marik and Yugi. Posed the same way. Though Marik's head was turned toward them to copy Melvin, his eyes stared into the middle distance. And he was hard. Without Yugi's hands or leg in the way, they could all see it.

Melvin chuckled.

Then laughed.

Then cackled.

He took Ryou by the hips and nudged him out of his lap. Then he pushed himself up on the edge of the fountain. The bronze hikari mimicked him, with as much of a lag as he dared. Melvin's attention was back on the pale face peering up at him from between his knees, though. He took fistfuls of the white hair, and then pulled the pale lips toward his cock.

Yugi blushed, but he didn't resist when he felt Marik's shaking hands on either side of his head. It couldn't be too different from sucking off Melvin, he told himself, and if this was all their sadistic overlord made them do they should consider themselves lucky.

Ryou felt nauseous. Sure, Melvin could be comparatively merciful. He'd practically given them a whole roasted chicken yesterday. But he didn't cackle like that when he was thinking about being merciful. And Ryou was still in pain. A lot of pain. It hadn't even been a hour since he'd taken Melvin dry. He didn't think he could do it again so soon. He honestly didn't. The pale hikari used both hands, playing with Melvin's balls as he licked and sucked and stroked. He tried to make it the most interesting blowjob he knew how, hoping desperately to distract the mad man from what must surely be his ultimate goal.

The tan fingers tangled in Ryou's hair pulled him up, leading him out of the water and into Melvin's lap once more. "Good puppet," Melvin growled in low voice. His hands moved to Ryou's hips and pulled them closer, until the head of his cock brushed Ryou's rear. "Ride me."

Ryou gripped Melvin's shoulders. His eyes darted to his companions. Yugi hovered, frozen, like Ryou. Deep purple eyes watched Ryou sideways, wide and glassy. Marik's face was hidden behind his hair, but Ryou could see the tension in his shoulders. The pale hikari knew that Yugi would do it if he had to. He knew that if he delayed now, the mad man would simply make them do it later. He wanted to be good. But it was so much. So much pushing. So much demanding. How much could he take? How much could the others take?

"I don't like waiting, puppet," Melvin growled in Ryou's ear.

Ryou thought about the second day. About Melvin making Yugi beg for him to stop hurting Ryou. Were they past that? Was that an option? Did he dare try? "I'm sorry," Ryou whispered, so low that the words were little more than a breath. "Please..." Ryou swallowed. "I'll suck all of your cocks. All of them. Just... Please..."

Melvin's head tilted as he pressed his lips together. He shook it slowly. "I'm getting really tired of threatening you little shits."

Ryou flinched. "I'm sorry..." he repeated. He moved to lower himself onto Melvin's dick, but the hands on his hips tightened, holding him in place.

"We're not done," Melvin said. He grabbed Ryou's jaw to force eye contact. "It's been a week. I shouldn't have to tell you things more than once and I shouldn't have to wait for your compliance."

"I'm s-" Ryou started.

"I definitely shouldn't have to listen to you tell me no."

"I didn't mean- I thought-"

"Think nothing. The only thing _you_ should be thinking about is the fastest way to do what you're told."

"I know... I'm s-"

"Well you obviously don't know! If you knew we wouldn't having this conversation!"

Tears fogged the wide, brown eyes. He searched frantically for the words that might smooth things over without digging him in deeper and couldn't think of anything.

Violet eyes narrowed. "If you won't be an example of good behavior, I'll make you an example of bad behavior." He tossed Ryou out of his lap and stalked over to get the Rod. As he turned back around, his glare found Yugi, cowering in Marik's lap. "I should've done this to you the first time you complained." He grabbed Ryou's arm and threw him out flat on the ground. "This is a lesson for all of you." Then he started pummeling Ryou with the head of the Rod.

Ryou shrieked the first time one of the wings sliced into him, trying to curl into a ball and cover his head. Melvin kicked him onto his side and axed him a second time on purpose. Ryou crossed his arms over his face as the rain of blows continued. Until Melvin hooked one of Ryou's arms with the curve of the wing, yanked it away from his face, and struck him across the temple.

Yugi's squeezed Marik's upper arms. "We have to do something," he whimpered without really hearing himself. "What do we do? I don't know what to do..."

Marik was a child again. Watching his father beat Odion. Frozen. Clinging to Yugi because he happened to be the closest thing to cling to.

The beating continued for a few minutes, until the pale hikari stopped trying to protect himself at all. Until he was a limp pile of limbs wheezing strange half-breaths on the floor. Melvin turned toward the others. The Rod hung at his side. A bead of blood swelled at the point of a wing and fell to the floor. His face was wild. His chest and shoulders heaved, glistening with exertion.

The mad king pointed his bloody scepter at them. "You two. Wash and dress and me. Now."

They scrambled to obey. Between the two of them, they managed to finish the chores quickly. Melvin didn't seem interested in drawing it out any more. Lucky enough. The remaining pair of hikaris wanted to get him out of there so they could tend to their companion. Marik kept sneaking glances at Ryou. He was breathing. They were shallow and uneven, but they were breaths.


	12. Chapter 12

Ryou was half-curled on his side with his eyes closed and his hands over his ears. He opened a bloodshot eye as the other two hikaris joined him on the floor. The other side of his face was already bruising and puffy. "It can't be okay," he whispered through a cracking voice. "I don't... I'm-" A sob caused his chest to lurch. Ryou flinched. "It hurts to breath. Breathing hurts." Ryou gingerly touched a slice high on his side, where the sharp edges of the Rod had glanced off his ribs.

Yugi used his waist wrap to bandage Ryou's bloody arm, trying to put pressure on the wound. His hands shook with repressed panic. He had to stay calm right now. He couldn't think if he didn't stay calm. His eyes darted over Ryou's body, trying to figure out which cuts were deep and which cuts were shallow.

"There's no choosing," Ryou breathed. "I thought," another short breath, "I could take it. I forgot..."

His breath didn't sound particularly gurgly or wheezing at least. Just short. "Sh, don't talk," Yugi said.

Ryou's eyes welled up. "But-" But he'd promised, and he couldn't. He couldn't do anything but what Melvin said and if Melvin said something awful, there was no battle to pick. With the Ring Spirit sometimes he could make it okay, but there was no okay anymore, and he didn't know what to do with that...

Marik tied his piece of cloth around a deep slice on Ryou's leg. The pale back was still bleeding, however, and when they tried to help Ryou sit up he cried out and clutched his ribs again. With a lot of wincing and apologies, they managed to at least roll him onto his side. Marik pressed the last waist wrap against the wound on Ryou's back while Yugi cradled Ryou's head in his lap.

Despite their best efforts, tiny flowers of blood eventually bloomed through the makeshift bandages. "We need something else," Marik said.

"What do we have?" Yugi glanced about frantically. "Pillows? Curtains? Can we get the curtains down?" They might be able to use strips of the curtains for tourniquets on his arm and leg, but what about his back? They needed a long term solution.

"Take it," Marik said. Once Yugi had taken over applying pressure to Ryou's back, Marik went to see how flimsy the curtains around the toilet really were. He gave them a few tugs, hanging with all his weight. If he had something sharp...

He was just working up the courage to search the torture room for an option when the door opened. Marik's fingers curled tightly into one of the purple draperies. Yugi curled reflexively over Ryou, as thought his small body could offer any sort of protection.

Melvin stopped at the table and tapped on it with the Rod. "Come here, puppet."

Yugi curled tighter around his friend. He didn't want to end up in the same position, but he couldn't let Melvin hurt Ryou, either.

Melvin's hard gaze focused on the short hikari. "What are _you_ crying for?"

It was a direct question. He had to answer direct questions, right? "I don't want you to hurt him," Yugi choked out.

Melvin chuckled. "It's too late for that isn't it?" He focused on Ryou. "Hop to it, puppet. You haven't got all day."

"I have to do what he says," Ryou whimpered.

"No," Yugi whispered. "No, Ryou, I've lost too many people this week..."

"Yugi, please, I have to..."

Ryou pulled against Yugi's grip. It wouldn't have been hard to physically restrain him at this point, but Ryou gave him a pleading look, and Yugi's grip loosened. Of course Ryou couldn't stand, but he managed to get himself up on all fours. Yugi muffled a sob on the back of his hand as he watched Ryou's painstaking progress.

Melvin rolled his eyes when Ryou's limbs shuddered and dropped him.

"He needs help," Yugi insisted, trying his hardest to avoid anything that sounded like a 'no.'

"Then quit sitting there sniveling about it and bring him to me," Melvin said.

There was no way he was done with any of them. Marik knew that much. He wouldn't kill Ryou. At least not on purpose.

It took the bronze hikari a moment to figure out the best way to get Ryou on his feet. Ryou wasn't heavy, but every attempt to hold himself upright or stretch his side caused a hiss of pain. Once Ryou had an arm around his neck, however, Marik managed to keep him up without much trouble. Memories of his first meeting with Bakura came to mind. Ryou had hung from Marik's shoulders scared and hurt and confused then, too. Back then the real owner of the body had been some nebulous concept that didn't seem quite real to Marik. Bakura had been the one in the front. Bakura had been the one who'd calmly allowed Marik to stab him. Now that he'd spent as much time talking to Ryou as he'd spent talking to Bakura, Marik felt awful for forgetting that he was a real person.

Marik hesitated at the edge of the table, wondering what to do next. Melvin tapped the Rod on the table again. Marik gritted his teeth, but nothing could prepare him for the shriek Ryou emitted as Marik swept his legs out from under him and laid him out on the gold surface. Once Marik had finished his role in things, the Rod jabbed him hard in the chest. The bronze hikari stumbled back and fell down.

Ryou stared up at Melvin, breathing his shallow, rapid breaths, so scared that he could've cried if his eyes weren't already watering from pain.

Melvin leaned close to whisper, "The small one is weak and naive. The prissy one is stubborn and desperate. You," he tapped Ryou on the nose, "were made for quiet obedience. I expect you to be an example for them at all times. Is that clear to you now?"

Ryou nodded, whispering only because proper talking took too much air. "Yes. I'm sorry I forgot myself..."

Melvin straightened up and reached into the folds of his cloak. "Roll over."

Setting his jaw against the flare of pain in his side, Ryou rolled onto his belly. His peripheral vision caught a small flash of gold in Melvin's hands. A gold need and gold thread. There was no anesthetic when Melvin started stitching up his back, but what was a little more pain on top of everything else?

Melvin raised his voice so all of them could hear. "I'd had a game all planned out for today. I was really excited about it. Unfortunately, I doubt my shattered porcelain doll has the blood to spare at the moment." He looked down at Marik sitting on his hip. At Yugi crouched near the bath hugging himself. He snarled his demented grin. "I'd seriously considered letting you two starve for a day or two, just for inconveniencing for me. You're lucky I have a two player game I've been wanting to try." He broke the thread with his teeth. "Give me your arm, rabbit."

Ryou turned on his back and let Melvin unwrap his arm. He felt strangely calm now that all Melvin wanted to do was stitch up his wounds. All he had to do was obey while he did it. It was so easy. He didn't know how long it would last, but he'd always believed in appreciating whatever he could get.

"We're going to play the game now," Melvin said without looking up from Ryou's arm. "Get some oil, panda bear, and bring it here. I don't care which one."

Melvin had left in such a huff and a hurry that he hadn't bothered to close the bath cabinet. Yugi grabbed a bottle at random. Melvin didn't look up from Ryou's arm until the short hikari had taken his position next to the bronze hikari. "Pour it on each other." The needle darted in and out of Ryou's flesh. "I want both of you slick from neck to feet."

Marik and Yugi exchanged nervous glances. He poured the bottle over one of Marik's shoulders. It smelled like eucalyptus. At first he was worried about rationing it to cover both of them, but it flowed without showing any sign of stopping. The short hikari poured it in a long, slow, horizontal line from one tan shoulder to the other. Thick drips oozed down Marik's chest and belly. Marik leaned back on his hands and stretched out his legs as Yugi drew glistening zigzags down his body. Then he did the same thing on Marik's back. Then they traded places. By the time Melvin finished closing up Ryou's leg, both of the other hikaris were indeed slick and shiny from neck to toes.

"Good. Now all you have to do is try to sodomize each other. First one to finish wins. Any questions?"

Yugi cringed.

Marik asked, "What are the stakes?" It was suspicious that he hadn't mentioned them.

Melvin simply raised an eyebrow. Violet eyes flicked toward Ryou and back. Marik wasn't sure if he was threatening to do the same thing he did to Ryou to them, or threatening to hurt Ryou more. It didn't matter much. Yugi had that look on his face that said he'd do anything to keep the others from being hurt. If Yugi was willing to take the fall, Marik didn't have the will to keep fighting about it anymore.

Yugi squeaked when Marik grabbed his arm and tried to pull him down. Marik's hand slipped off, but Yugi's hand slipped out from under him when he reached out to catch himself on the slick marble floor. The short hikari started to push himself up on all fours, but Marik was behind him. A slick arm trapped him in a half nelson as Marik tried to stroke himself hard with his free hand. Yugi thought about letting it happen, but Melvin probably wanted to watch them struggle as much as he wanted to watch them screw, if not more. The short hikari twisted sideways, sliding his arm free.

Yugi went down on his back. Marik landed on top of him. Small hands shoved weakly at the bronze chest. Marik grabbed Yugi's wrists tightly and pinned them at either side of his head. The smaller hikari's wrists twisted in his grip, but he couldn't get them free. Marik's knee slipped between Yugi's thighs, wedging them apart, but after that he couldn't figure out how to get an actual angle for penetration without Yugi simply letting him do it. Gods, the fact that he was even having to consider any of this made him sick.

The short hikari pulled his knees up to his chest and pushed at Marik's hips and thighs with his feet. Marik was already still stronger than him, but it also didn't help that his feet kept slipping. At least he didn't actually have to stop Marik. Just put up enough of a fight to make it look like he tried.

The bronze hikari turned his body sideways and managed to leverage his slick torso between Yugi's knees. Their bellies slid together as Yugi bucked and tried to roll. Marik settled on top of him, putting his weight into the pin as well. "Okay?" Marik whispered into Yugi's hair. He felt Yugi nod once. "Okay..." The second one was more for steadying himself. His hips pressed forward, but he'd only managed half-mast and couldn't quite get past the ring of muscle hands-free.

Marik squeezed his eyes shut and pictured Bakura. He knew what Bakura would've looked like naked. White hair fanned out around his head. Knees up and lolling open. Smirking that cheeky smirk as he toyed with himself. Daring Marik to take the opening he presented so luridly and unabashedly.

Yugi's little cry disturbed Marik's fantasy, but he already had the tip in. From there, the oil made it easier to sink slowly to the hilt. And it didn't even feel bad, physically. Marik cringed as he started moving. Awkward. Trying to find a rhythm between the guilt of hurting Yugi and the awe of having something so warm and tight hugging his dick.

Yugi tried to hold in his pained moans. He didn't want to make Marik feel any worse. He pressed his lips together and hid his face against his arm. He held his breath until his lungs burned, panted to get it back, and then held it again. It wasn't quite as bad as one of Melvin's poundings. They had the oil, and Marik was at least trying to be gentle, but it still hurt.

Marik focused on the physical sensations. "Okay..." he breathed softly again. He sped up a bit. "Almost... almost..." And then he was panting. And then everything tensed and tingled. Bakura's phantom moans filled his imagination. Yes. Bakura. Bakura!

And then everything went empty and cold as the fantasy unraveled in the aftermath of his orgasm. Marik slid down and out, burying his face in Yugi's neck, sucking deep and uneven breaths. Bakura...

Melvin cackled, clapping. "Oh, I can't wait to have all three of my little toys up and ticking again. We're going to have so much fun!" He turned his leer on Ryou. "Especially the part where you promised to suck everyone off. You really are a good little thing."

Ryou flinched as Melvin pinched his cheek, but he didn't say anything. Keeping his mouth shut really was the best option. He wished he'd figured that out sooner.

"I'll bring you something to replenish all of the energy you expended today." He sneered at the short hikari. "I'll have to show you what you lost tomorrow. Pity, that. But there is something to be said for building anticipation." Melvin swept out of the room with giddy, gleeful laughter bubbling in his wake.

Ryou closed his eyes and focused on breathing. Yugi stared blankly at the ceiling, stroking Marik's hair. He could feel the tears dripping off Marik's face, but that was the only way he could tell that the other hikari was crying. At least they'd all get to eat today.


	13. Chapter 13

"I'm not bad," Marik insisted in a low, raspy voice. "I'm not."

"It's okay," Yugi whispered back. Ryou hadn't moved much in a while. Yugi hoped he was sleeping. Part of him wanted to get up and look, maybe try to move Ryou to a better spot, but Marik was still collapsed on top of him. And of course he was tired and sore himself.

"He's not even in me any more and he still brings out the worst. He made me a murderer, a traitor, and now..." Marik gritted his teeth.

"I'm always willing to do whatever I have to. It's not rape if I give you permission, right?"

The blonde head turned. Marik stared blankly at the gold table legs. "You're only saying yes because of Melvin's threats. He's using me to rape you, the same way he used me to murder my father. The same way he used me to betray my clan." Marik closed his eyes and sighed. "It's worse now, too. Before I physically had no choice. Now... I'm just scared."

"We're all scared." Yugi held the sides of Marik's head so he could make eye contact. "We have to play his game. If we don't, whoever's left is going to get it three times worse than we're getting it now." Yugi went limp on the floor, staring at the ceiling. "It wouldn't be me, would it? He'd want me to die knowing at least one of you was still suffering and I could never do anything about it."

Marik rested his cheek on Yugi's chest again. "I guess... If you keep sacrificing yourself, you're going to end up like Ryou, though..."

Then Marik would have to take all the hits, and when he was used up Melvin would go after the least used up of the other two, whether they were ready for it or not. "I don't like seeing other people get hurt. Not if I can stop it."

"You can't stop it."

"... delay it..."

Marik clenched his fists. They should've had this talk a while ago, when he first thought of it, before Melvin put one of them out of commission. When there were three to share the burden. "It's pointless to think like that." He turned his head so that his chin rested on Yugi's chest. "It's not fair if I'm allowed to hurt you, but you're not allowed to hurt me. I've been making other people deal with my problems my entire life. Melvin _exists_ because I couldn't deal with my own problems. I hate it." He turned his head sideways, toward the bath fountain this time. "We have to share the burden, at least... If you can't live with that, then maybe we should let his games decide for real..."

Marik was right. The short hikari didn't like it, but he was right. He couldn't keep throwing Melvin's games forever. Besides that, his attempts to protect the others just gave Melvin more leverage. He only barely stopped himself from hugging Marik, opting to grab and squeeze his upper arms instead. "It's not fair..." he sniffled. "This shouldn't even be happening..." A tear squeezed from the corner of his eye. "I miss... I miss... everyone..."

"I know," Marik choked out. He sat up, straddling the smaller hikari's lap as he hugged him to his chest. "I know..." He took a breath. "But we'll work together, right? From now on? Because Ra help me, I am not letting you throw the next game."

"I'll try," Yugi mumbled in a very small voice.

They fell silent as they struggled to regain their composure, remaining locked together until they heard a hiss of pain from the table. They looked up to see Ryou struggling into a sitting position.

"Could-" Ryou winced and cradled his head. "Could someone help me to the bathroom, please? I'm... rather dizzy..."

In the end they distracted themselves by helping Ryou get cleaned up and comfortable on the couch. They were thinking about attempting to sleep when the door opened. The three of them huddled instinctively together at the first hint of it, but it only opened a crack. They couldn't see into the hall from their angle. They did watch a covered basket slide into the room before the door snapped shut, however.

The pale hikari stared at it. Approach the door. Melvin had told him not to even approach the door. Was it a trap? A test? He didn't move.

The bronze hikari stood up and padded carefully across the marble floor. He paused about five feet away. Lavender eyes flicked between the basket and the door. Then he sank to his knees and reach slowly for the wicker handle. One more pause. Then he grabbed it and yanked it to him in one blurred movement.

Nothing happened.

Marik sighed as he returned to the other two. Tension still thrummed in his insides. It was probably just the food Melvin had promised, but the tension wouldn't be dismissed. It had nestled in and taken hold and Marik didn't foresee it going anywhere any time soon.

###

Yugi held up his waist wrap. All of the white cloths had taken on a permanent, rusty tinge. Mostly Ryou's blood. Some of Marik's blood. The soap he'd stolen days ago got the crusty bits out, but it could only go so far. He looked at Marik and Ryou. The pale hikari was passed out on the couch. The bronze hikari had the metal tray from the chicken. He'd cleaned it off and now he was staring his reflection with hazy eyes and a tight frown. All three of them were naked. Ryou didn't like the way the fabric chafed the cuts on his thighs. Marik and Yugi couldn't stop thinking about what the stains used to be.

Not that clothing mattered much anymore. Not among the three of them. Yugi felt like it almost mattered when Melvin was there, devouring them with his eyes. He didn't want to do anything that might, shudder at the thought, get the mad god going if he wasn't already. But it didn't matter, did it? He was coming for Yugi next time, regardless. The short hikari was sure of it. As long as Ryou was out of commission, the games would be used to determine who got subjected to Melvin's private play time.

Marik noticed movement in the reflection behind him. The door. Gritting his teeth, he placed the metal disk on the floor. His movements were measured and deliberate as he took his place on the floor at Melvin's feet.

Ryou took a moment to the join the other two. When his attempt to sit up made the room sway, he eased himself off the couch in a roll instead. Melvin watched him with intent, amused curiousity. The pale hikari braced his hands on the floor as he dragged his shins under him and sat back on his heels.

Once Ryou was settled, Melvin shoved the spherical end of the Rod at Marik's face. "Kiss it."

Marik eyed him uncertainly. A quick jolt at his neck chased the 'why' from his lips before he found the courage to ask. Wincing, Marik pressed his lips to the cold metal.

"Hm..." The Rod lowered slowly to Melvin's side. He frowned contemplatively, and then shrugged. As his attention turned to the short hikari, he grinned. Melvin squatted in front of Yugi with his elbows resting lazily on his knees. "Do you know why I'm here?"

Yugi gulped. "To tell me what I lost." Before Yugi could react, the mad god had grabbed him under the arm pits and risen to his feet. Yugi's own feet dangled as Melvin held him at arm's length. The violet eyes crawled down and back up.

"You are so small," Melvin laughed. He gave the short hikari a light toss and caught him again. "Barely weigh a thing..."

Yugi whimpered as Melvin jostled him. Anyone else, he would've been indignant. In Melvin's hands, he did feel like a small, helpless toy. Especially when the mad man slung him over his shoulder and swept him into the room that made his heart feel cold. Melvin rolled him off his shoulder. Yugi gasped in pain as he hit the floor on his side. Chains jingled as Melvin attached them to Yugi's ankles. Then the small hikari was dragged across the floor and into the air.

Somehow being upside-down was what did it. Tears welled in the deep purple eyes and ran into the dark hair. Hair that Melvin grabbed to stop the small hikari's swaying. Yugi covered his face with his hands, peering through his fingers at the upside-down grin.

"If I left you like this long enough, you'd die," Melvin said, as though sharing an amusing bit of trivia. "Not even long, really. Three or four measly hours is all it takes." The mad god stepped back. "Or are three or four hours an eternity when you're waiting to die?" He crossed one arm across his bare abdomen and rested his elbow on his hand. The other hand stroked his jaw thoughtfully.

Yugi whimpered again, shivering. He didn't think Melvin seriously meant he had lost his life. No. It was the anxious sense of doom those scrutinizing eyes gave him. Why was he upside-down? What weird, horrible thing was Melvin going to do this time?

His stomach lurched as his body dropped. Yugi yelped and wrapped his arms around his head, but there was no impact. Only a sharp jerk at his ankles as the chains pulled taut again. Melvin's laugh drowned out Yugi's frightened sobs as he tried to catch his breath. "Please," Yugi sobbed. "Please just rape me, I'm scared, I can't do this, please..."

The laughter stopped abruptly. Oh, no, nonono, footsteps approached his face, no...

Melvin stared down at him. "Say that again."

He didn't look angry, but he didn't look happy either. Yugi tried to swallow. Between the lump in his throat and the direction of gravity, he didn't manage too well. "I'm scared..."

"The other thing."

The short hikari wasn't thinking very clearly, and it took him a moment to remember exactly what he'd said. He almost closed his eyes, but if he couldn't see Melvin's face he wouldn't know if he was saying the wrong thing. "Please... just... rape me?" When Melvin grinned, Yugi couldn't decide how to feel about it. Part of him was glad that Melvin didn't appear angry. Part of him knew happy Melvin only meant slightly less bad things and never good things. Slightly less bad was the best he could expect, however, and it was what he was hoping for...

"You want me to fuck you?"

Yugi shuddered. No, but... "Please..." Please don't hurt me...

"Are you begging your god to fuck you?" A touch of laughter now.

Cheeks flushed hot as more moisture fogged the deep purple eyes. "Y-yes..."

"You're doing a pathetic job of it."

Yugi's breath hitched. "I... please..."

Melvin's face hardened as his foot came down. The short hikari yelped and tried to flinch away. The tug at his scalp told him that the maniac was standing on his hair.

"That was almost amusing, chibi, but mostly you're just starting to bore me."

Nooo, bored Melvin was bad, very, very bad!

A chain rattled. A rough hand pulled one of Yugi's cheeks aside. Something hard and cold forced itself into Yugi's body. The slack swayed, cool and ticklish against Yugi's spine, as Melvin fed in a second link.

What was he doing? What was he doing?!

After the third link disappeared up the short hikari's bum, Melvin grabbed the chain in a fist and yanked. There was a hard, fast flare of pain. Yugi squealed. He struggled reflexively, pulling at the hair trapped under Melvin's foot.

"Very nice, chibi," Melvin purred as he patted Yugi's inner thigh. "That was _very_ amusing. Let's try a little more."

It already hurt when Melvin started stuffing the chain in again, and the short hikari was sure that if he wasn't bleeding now, he would be bleeding soon. His chest heaved as he tried to think. If he'd been free, he would've fallen to his knees and begged for the mad god. Maybe kissed his feet. Melvin would think that was amusing, right? Half expecting to simply be kicked, Yugi grabbed at Melvin's leg. Ignoring the painful tug on his hair, unable to reach Melvin's foot, Yugi pressed his face against Melvin's shin. "Please, god, please..."

Melvin paused. "Do you have any pride, or did the loser take it all with him?"

Yugi looked up at Melvin as best he could, shaking his head. Melvin pressed his lips together and took his foot off Yugi's hair so that he could press the bottom of his sandal against Yugi's face.

"Then I'll _grant_ you a chance to grovel properly. Stick out your tongue. You're very good at that."

The bottom of Melvin's shoe was dusty and gritty. Yugi wrinkled his nose as Melvin rubbed it on his tongue. There was enough pressure to grind Yugi's lips against his teeth.

"Open wide." Melvin tried to wiggle his foot into Yugi's mouth. When it didn't fit, he went back to rubbing it on Yugi's face, smearing it with spit. "Nn," Melvin growled. "Take off my shoe."

Unable to see, the small fingers fumbled at the straps for a moment before getting them loose. The chains rattled as Melvin lowered Yugi's head to floor.

"Go on. Make it good."

"Please," Yugi whimpered. He kissed along the top of Melvin's foot until he reached his ankle. "Please ff- fuck me..." He kissed back down Melvin's arch. He kissed each of Melvin's toes. When Melvin lifted his foot, Yugi kissed the bottom from toes, to heel, and back again. The bottom of Melvin's foot was faintly sticky, but it was still better than getting stuffed with a chain and having it ripped out.

Melvin angled his foot and shoved his toes into Yugi's mouth. Yugi's lips stretched, but without the shoe he managed it. A shudder shook the smaller body. Upside-down with his nose stuffed from crying, it was hard to breathe with his mouth full.

"And what're you gonna do, chibi?" Melvin purred. "What're you gonna do that I can't simply force from you?"

Thinking quickly, mentally cringing but so very desperate, Yugi drew his head back, wrapped his lips around Melvin's big toe, and sucked until his cheeks hollowed out.

The mad god cackled. "You sassy little shit! Fine. I'll _grant_ you this _one_ , but only because that surprise amused me. Don't start getting any lazy expectations. Take off my other shoe."

Heart racing with a combination of hope and terror, Yugi unfastened Melvin's other shoe. As he stepped out of it, the chains moved again, leveling Yugi's face with Melvin's groin. Yugi sniffled, trying to keep himself steady. He was aware of a rough fullness in his bowels and he knew the chain would have to come out one way or another, but he couldn't worry about whether Melvin would really be 'gentle' about it or not. To do so would mean to cry. Then it would be hard to breathe. Then it would be hard to suck Melvin's cock properly.

Yugi loosened Melvin's shendyt and let it fall. Touching the mad god always sent chills down, or maybe up, Yugi's spine. Still, shaky hands pulled at Melvin's thighs for leverage as the short hikari got to it.

"Oh, yeeesss," Melvin hissed as his nails dug into Yugi's waist. "Good panda bear..." His head went back as he thrust lazily with the movement of Yugi's head. Obviously in no hurry.

Yugi sucked until his cheeks and lips throbbed. He tried stroking with his lips whenever he dared, but it was obvious when Melvin grew impatient with such things. Eventually a pressure built behind Yugi's eyes. His face tingled with warmth as the beginnings of a headache throbbed. He squirmed, moaning uncomfortably as he tried to get Melvin off faster.

Melvin growled thoughtfully and swatted Yugi's hands to make him let go. He moved around the hanging body and fastened both of Yugi's wrists to a forth chain. The chain retracted, pulling Yugi's spine into an arc and wrenching up on his shoulders. The short hikari struggled, arms straining to hold a comfortable position.

Apparently done being benevolent, the mad god grabbed two spikes of dark hair and took full control. The knew position caused him to hit Yugi's throat in a way that challenged his gag reflex. He fought the urge to wretch. He wasn't upside-down anymore, not exactly, and Melvin was winding up to finish. He could do this. He was almost out.

The chain in his ass pulled. Slow, steady pressure. Yugi writhed, pulling at his ankles as one link popped free and another started to follow.

"Good chibi," Melvin panted. "Keep squealing. I can feel it in your throat."

"Uhhuk!"

Melvin laughed breathlessly, only finishing when the chain finally finished extracting itself.

Yugi coughed, drooling white fluid all over stone floor. Melvin whacked the base of Yugi's skull with an open palm.

"You swallow that unless I say otherwise!"

With another sickening drop, Yugi found his face hovering just over the splatters.

"Fix it."

Fighting tears again, Yugi stuck out his tongue and dragged it through the mess. Melvin squatted close by, watching until he was satisfied every drop had made it down Yugi's throat.


End file.
